President John Dramani Mahama has assured that the construction of the 175.6-kilometre Accra-Kumasi Expressway will be financed entirely with locally generated funds, insisting that government will not borrow to execute the project.
According to the President, the government has already set aside $2 billion for the project, with the funds currently held in a special account at the Bank of Ghana.
“Let me announce that the Minister of Finance has put aside $2 billion for financing this Accra-Kumasi Expressway. The money is ready. It is sitting in a special account at the Bank of Ghana,” President Mahama said.
He made the disclosure at Kwaso near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region during the official ceremony for the handover report of the clearing task for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
President Mahama stressed that the project would be funded with taxpayers’ money rather than loans secured from external sources.
“And let me also announce that this is our own money. We have not gone to borrow money from anywhere. This money is the money of the taxpayers of Ghana,” he stated.
The President further assured contractors working on the project that funding would not be a challenge once construction begins.
“So, when this project starts, money is not going to be a problem. All certificates presented by the contractor will be paid instantly. And so there will be no problem with that,” he said.
President Mahama said Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson had assured him that the government would mobilise the full amount required to complete the project by the end of the year.
“So far, $2 billion is in the account. By the end of the year, we’ll have the full amount for the completion of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway,” he added.
The 175.6-kilometre expressway is a flagship project under the government’s Big Push infrastructure programme and is intended to significantly improve connectivity between Accra and Kumasi.
The project is also expected to reduce travel time between Ghana’s two major cities to approximately two hours once completed.
As part of preparations for construction, the Ministry of Roads and Highways, through the Ministry of Defence, requested the support of the Ghana Armed Forces to deploy military engineers to undertake selected pre-construction activities along the corridor.
President Mahama also announced the government’s intention to extend the expressway beyond Kumasi to northern Ghana, potentially creating a major high-speed transport corridor linking the southern and northern parts of the country.
At the ceremony, Nana Osei Fosu Adutwum II, Kwasohene, commended President Mahama for initiating the Accra-Kumasi Expressway project and appealed to Ghanaians to support the government’s development efforts.
The traditional leader also appealed to the President to consider locating one of the 16 new senior high schools planned by the government in Kwaso, noting that the community currently has no senior high school.
He further called for the establishment of a nursing training school in the traditional area, indicating that land was available for the proposed development.
