The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to halt the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) plans for a new headquarters building.
The traditional ruler made a call when a delegation paid him a courtesy call at his palace.
The Dormaahene posited that the plans to construct a new headquarters are misplaced, given the current economic situation in Ghana.
“We heard that the BoG is building a new headquarters at a cost of 250 million dollars. That is about a quarter of the money we are seeking from the IMF. We want the President to intervene. He should meet with them and rescind that decision and communicate same to us,” he said.
The central has justified its decision to build the new heardquarters.
In its response to the Minority on reasons why it was constructing the new headquarters, the BoG said:
A structural integrity assessment conducted by the BoG revealed that the current BoG Head Office building, built by the Nkrumah Government in the early 1960s, is no longer fit for purpose and could not stand any major earth tremors. The outcome of the structural integrity work was that the main building does not satisfy the full complement of excess strength required for a building to be considered safe for usage.
This means that in the case of a worst case gravity and wind loading scenario, for example, unusually strong wind, the building may be significantly affected. The building also does not have the required strength to withstand the expected imposed significant earthquake loads that would be expected to occur in the Accra area.
Based on the above, and looking at the strategic objective of positioning Ghana as the financial hub of the subregion, with prospects of a potential Headquarters for a future regional Central Bank, The Board and Management of the Bank considered a new Head Office building as the most important priority project to support the operational efficiency of the Bank, and also position the Bank of Ghana in a very good position to be the host of the regional Central Bank as we currently host the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) of the Sub region.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
