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Presidential Candidate for the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo in his 'Real State of The Nation Address' on Monday February 29, 2016 at Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons stated that he still insists most of the cost of various projects undertaken by the current government are inflated.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the evidence of the fact that the cost of the projects like the Ridge Hospital expansion was inflated is based on the report of the Crown Agents that the Ridge expansion project should have saved the country some $142million.

President John Dramani Mahama in his recent State of the Nation address in Parliament last Thursday February 25, 2016 as demanded by the constitution, described the opposition NPP as "political quantity surveyors" who can indicate the actual cost of a project without access to official documents.

He denied that cost of the various projects have been bloated as alleged by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

But Nana Akufo-Addo insisted that "Mr. President, you don’t have to be an NPP political quantity surveyor to be alarmed by the overpricing of projects. The Crown Agents reviewed the contract for the Ridge Hospital upgrading and they decided we were being charged $142million more than similar jobs in other parts of the world.”

"The last time I said this, the government spokesmen were clearly unhappy, but I will continue to say until I’m proven wrong with credible verifiable information- every time you see the Ridge Hospital, you should recall that according to the Crown Agents, the contract for the project has been inflated by $142million.

"Again, every kilometer of road constructed by this government, every school block built under this government has cost more money than can be reasonably justified.

"There is a very good reason why the NPP managed to construct a lot more roads with less money than the NDC has done in these last 7 years. It is about value for money. Under the 8 years of NPP, the average cost was $480,000. In these two terms of this NDC government, the average cost of the same 1 kilometre asphaltic road is $1.5 million. Yes, from $480,000 under President Kufuor to $1.5 million under President Mahama.

"This, fellow Ghanaians, is the real state of governance in Ghana today, where the Government throws so much money at fewer projects. The more inflated the costs of projects are, the less our country develops, and the less we are able to spend on the needy.

“Indeed, most projects executed under this government have been over-priced, due mainly to the single source procurement method, which has become the procurement method of choice for this government. The examples are many, and have become bywords of the Mahama administration – SADA, GYEEDA, KARPOWER, SMARTYS, AMERI, ENI, ETC, ETC”.