PICTURES: Over 100 SADA tricycles burnt in WA

Over 100 tricycles belonging to the defunct Savannah Accelerated Authority (SADA) now  Northern Development Authority (NDA) have been burnt in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital.

The tricycles that have been abandoned in the open at the controller fuel station, were reported to have been burnt on Monday morning according to MyNewsGh.com sources.

It is believed to have been caused by wild fire in view of the impending dry season accompanied by the harmattan winds and took fire fighters several hours to bring the inferno under control but most of them were burnt beyond repairs.

Sale of tricycles

The Northern Development Authority started the sale of tricycles that were purchased under the defunct Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).

The tricycles were procured to support the youth but have been left to rot.

In 2015, the defunct Savannah Accelerated Development Authority signed a public-private partnership agreement with Unik Savannah limited for the procurement of 5,000 tricycles at a cost of 9,500,000 dollars.

This initiative was aimed at alleviating the high level of poverty in the then SADA operational zone.

However, these initiatives were fraught with challenges.

Out of the 5,000 tricycles that were imported, 3,000 were assembled, 2,239 were sold, leaving 732 tricycles under the mercy of harsh weather conditions, resulting in a depreciation of up to 60% according to the latest valuation of the State Transport Company Limited

CEO of the Northern Development Authority Dr. Abdul Majeed Haroun stated that out of GH¢33,649,200 expected from the sale of the tricycles, only GH¢1,258,271 payment have been made by beneficiaries.

“Out of the total of GH¢33, 649, 200 expected from the sale of the tricycles, only a woeful GH¢1,258,271 payments have been made by beneficiaries (i.e. under 4%) leaving an outstanding balance of GH¢32,390,929. This 96% loss totaling over eight million dollars to an Economic Zone that the UNDP in their 2018 Human Welfare study acknowledge as the poorest in Ghana is unfortunate and constitutes a serious financial loss to the state,” he said.

Source:MyNewsGh.com/Stephen Zoure/2019