Government To Retool Two State Institutions

The government would soon come out with a policy to ensure that Public Works Department (PWD) and Architectural and Engineering Services Limited (AESL) are given some percentage of works under the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and other government funded projects as well as consultancy roles to strengthen the two state institutions. Mr Vincent Asamoah, the Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, said this during an interaction with staffs of PWD and AESL on Thursday when he paid a working visit to the two departments which are under his ministry at Koforidua. He said even though PWD was faced with challenges once the staffs were being paid monthly salaries it was imperative for them to justify the salaries they collect and to project their image. Mr Asamoah said some engineers of PWD and AESL consulted for other private firms to the disadvantage of their institutions, adding that �PWD staffs do not care about the progress of the department, they are only interested in their salaries�. He said such attitude where people put their personal gains before the progress of state institutions was not the best and urged the workers to demonstrate their relevance in the development agenda of the country. He said retooling of the two departments, especially the PWD, to function well was on course and very soon a new agenda for the PWD would be rolled out to ensure value for money as government continued to spend on salaries. The Regional Engineer of PWD, Mr L.K Nartey, appealed to the Ministry for a data office equipped with all the necessary equipment and logistics to enable them track the data of all employees of the department to reduce waste. He said often the regional offices were blamed for not providing update on their employees leading to loss to the government since retired and resigned staffs continued to draw their salary and other allowances. The Minister later on inspected some dilapidated government bungalows and flats in the region and assured of government�s indication to construct more accommodation for staff on lands left around government houses.