Deputy Minister for Railways Development, Hon Andy Appiah Kubi has opined that the current NPP administration led by H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo aside the numerous social intervention programs introduced will go down in history as the best government of the 4th republic in terms of infrastructural development by the end of its first term in 2020.
The Asante Akim North MP who was contributing to discussions on a Konongo-based local radio station over the weekend as monitored by Ghanawish.com gave a catalogue of investments made in the infrastructural sector so far.
In his submissions, the former youth organizer of the elephant fraternity said, “Parliament late last year approved the $2 billion bauxite-for-infrastructure barter arrangement between the government of Ghana and China’s Sinohydro Corporation and this arrangement seeks to leverage a fraction of Ghana’s bauxite resources to address the country’s infrastructure challenges and will provide a wide variety of projects including hospitals, bridges, interchanges, roads, affordable housing, rural electrification, and many other projects which are in line with government’s development agenda”.
He further revealed that two-thirds of the amount to be received will be invested into the roads and highways sector. “This will be the single largest infrastructure investment project by any government in a year over the past 5 decades”, the revered lawmaker added.
Expatiating further on the agreement, the MP said, “Under this barter system, we will see the construction of the first ever interchange in the Northern sector of Ghana at point 7 in Tamale and another one at PTC in Takoradi in the Western region”.
Throwing more light on other investments being made so far, Mr Appiah Kubi said, “There has been a $1.5 billion infrastructure projects under the GETFUND receivables.
These projects are ongoing in all the regions of the country”.
Commenting on the strides being made in his own Ministry, the one-time General secretary aspirant of the ruling party asserted that, “In the railway sector, the Accra to Tema railway service has started running on the refurbished line, rehabilitation of Accra/Nsawam line is almost complete, work is ongoing on the rehabilitation of the Kojokrom to Tarkwa lines, work on the standard gauge section from Kojokrom to Manso is ongoing, the eastern railway line, western railway line and the Tema to Ouagadougou lines are being tendered”.
Citing other developmental projects in the offing, the MP named Tamale Airport Phase 2, Kumasi Market and Airport Phase 2, construction of four (4) dedicated container terminals, multipurpose container terminal at Takoradi Port, dry bulk jetty at Takoradi Port, construction of ferry landing sites( Dambai, Yeji, Makango and Agordeke), 10 Youth and Sports Resource Centers of Excellence underway in the various regions and the Eastern Regional Theater at Koforidua as some of the projects to take Ghana by storm.
In addition to the above, the legal luminary asserted that there were many other projects, including road constructions spread across Kumasi, Accra and other parts of the country. Hon Andy said funds had also been secured for the start of twelve(12) fish landing sites, Yendi Water Project, Pwalugu multi-purpose dam, Bui solar hybrid and irrigation project among many others.
Hon. Andy added that, “Under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), every single constituency in Ghana has seen significant number of basic infrastructure such as toilet, water, school blocks, etc. completed or ongoing”.
“So I can tell you on authority that, by the end of our first term in office come 2020, Ghana’s infrastructural development would have been better of than what Mahama and his NDC apparatchiks are boasting of”, the former CEO of Ghana Free Zones Board concluded.
