ADDRESS DELIVERED BY H.E. DR. MAHAMUDU BAWUMIA VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA PRESENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT DURING THE FIRST TERM IN OFFICE TUESDAY, 18 th AUGUST, 2020 ACCRA
Page 2 of 64 Second Lady Chief of Staff Ministers of State Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps Chairman and National Executives of the NPP Distinguished Invited Guests Friends from the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening. 1. During the Townhall and Results Fair held in Kumasi in February this year, we discussed our manifesto promises and the extent to which we have delivered on those promises. At that presentation I did state that in the spirit of transparency and accountability, Government would present to the country what we have done specifically in the area of infrastructure since coming into office. 2. Since then, all of us have had to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic, all its hardships, changes in our everyday lives in order to save lives, and all its protocols.
Page 3 of 64 Today has provided us the opportunity to come back to you and make this presentation in a largely virtual setting. 3. We have just watched a short documentary which has tried to capture a broad outline of what the NPP government has done in the last three and a half years under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. It is clear that what we have done in the area if infrastructure, as I am about to show, is massive for the first term of a government in the fourth republic. 4. Before the 2016 election, the NPP conducted a comprehensive survey on the development of Ghana. The survey revealed profound challenges. Notable among them were the large infrastructure deficit, their constraint on our development, their uneven distribution across the country, and the wide disparity in urban and rural development. This study informed our 2016 manifesto in the area of infrastructure. I
Page 4 of 64 5. n line with the government’s agenda to ensure inclusive and accelerated economic development, our focus has been to provide infrastructure for all. Our approach to the infrastructure development of Ghana has been twofold: (i) First, to provide for the infrastructure needs of the poor and deprived communities at the micro level (like water, toilets, clinics and electricity) which many governments have historically ignored. (ii) Second, to provide for the broader infrastructure needs of the economy at the macro-level to drive economic growth. 6. Infrastructure for all includes all the amenities that people need in order to unleash the potentials for growth in their communities, constituencies, and districts, and ultimately improve the conditions of everyday living. It also includes facilities and systems to support industrial and other economic activities.
Page 5 of 64 7. Given that we are in the age of the 4 th industrial revolution, it is inevitable that we get on the transitioning of the Ghanaian economy from low to high productivity level driven by digitization. To enable us do this we have to put in place the required soft infrastructure: the digital infrastructure which in many respects may be more important than the physical infrastructure that we are used to. This has not received much attention in our development process until recently. 8. To accomplish our objective of delivering infrastructure for all we have used the following vehicles amongst others: a. Ministries Department, and Agencies b. District and Municipal Assemblies c. Development Authorities Under the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives (1C1M) d. Zongo Development Fund under Ministry for Inner City and Zongo Development 9. Our goal this evening, is to share with you what we have done within this broader understanding of infrastructure,
Page 6 of 64 the impact on households in the beneficiary communities, districts, regions, and what they mean in the broader context of our national development. 10. This presentation is going to be driven by data on infrastructure collected from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). To enable all Ghanaians, researchers, CSOs, have access to and interrogate the data we have put all this data together on a website: (www.deliverytracker.gov.gh). 11. The infrastructure data can be obtained by sector (education, health, etc.) by region or by district. As the name implies, “delivery tracker” is a portal where you can track the status of delivery of government promises and also infrastructure projects. It will enhance transparency and accountability in our governance. It will also enable government to monitor all infrastructure projects to ensure that uncompleted projects are prioritized in the process of capital budgeting.
Page 7 of 64 12. The portal will be regularly updated. As far as we know, Ghana is the only country in Africa that has implemented this publicly accessible delivery tracker for its infrastructure projects. I would like to note that we have not applied any standardized units for counting projects. For example, you may have a project that constructs 120 units of apartments and another project that constructs 25 units of apartments. They will be counted as two projects in the database. We are focusing on the description of the projects, their details and locations so that we can monitor. 13. The process of adding pictures and digital addresses to all the projects is ongoing. 14. I will demonstrate the use of this portal later in in this talk. 15. That said, kindly allow me to present to you a summary of the various key infrastructure programs that we have implemented across every region of Ghana.
Page 8 of 64 Given the constrains on time, I will focus on roads, agriculture, industry, sports, housing, airport, sea defence, fish landing sites, markets, security and digital infrastructure. These projects have been captured in the delivery tracker website. Infrastructure Summary
Page 9 of 64 16. Over the past 3 and half years, we have implemented different infrastructure programs across sectors:
Page 10 of 64 In total, about 17334 individual projects have been started since January 2017. We have completed a total number of 8746 projects throughout the country. A further 8588 projects are at different stages of completion throughout the country. 17. This is consistent with our strategic orientation to ensure the development of broad base, wide scale infrastructure, taking place in every district across the country instead of a few big infrastructure projects in a few cities. Let me turn now to sectoral infrastructure. Road Infrastructure 18. Improvement of road infrastructure has been a major priority for this government. On assumption of office we were met with protests across the country about the poor state of the road network. We have implemented several initiatives to improve the road network of the
Page 11 of 64 country to enhance economic activities of citizens and to improve access and living conditions of our people. We have declared this year as the Year of Roads. 19. In total we have since 2017 undertaken a total of 1927 road projects across the country. Out of that, 1307 of
Page 12 of 64 them are completed while 620 are currently under construction. 20. In the Urban areas, across the country, since the beginning of 2017, we: have done 589 km of Asphalt Overlay, rehabilitating and upgrading of 143.61 km of roads, reconstruction of 97.8km and resealing of 48.82 km of roads across the country. 21. We are constructing 4 state of the art interchanges. The Tema Interchange, where the loan, sod cutting and completion were executed by this government. Tamale interchange under the Sinohydro Program, the first ever interchange in the Northern Sector of the country is at 44% completion and expected to be completed by the middle of 2021. Pokuase interchange (the first four tier interchange in west Africa – 75% complete. The, loan agreement
Page 13 of 64 for this project was signed in November 2016 for a three-tier interchange. We subsequently renegotiated for a four-tier interchange without any increase in cost. Obetsebi Lamptey interchange -55% complete. The Sod has just been cut for the Nungua Interchange This is the highest number of interchanges (5) being constructed in the first term of any government since independence. A sixth interchange, the PTC interchange in Takoradi ( the first interchange in the western region) will start in early September. Ladies and gentlemen, It is important to note that the cost of the Tema, Pokuase, Tamale, and Obetsebi Lamptey interchanges total $289 million while the Kwame Nkrumah interchange was constructed at a cost of $260 million.
Page 14 of 64 22. We are also constructing 79 steel, concrete, and footbridges across the country. 46 of them are completed and being used while the remaining are at different stages of construction. 23. Government has selected three critical roads in every region. Work is ongoing on all these critical roads and are at various stages of completion, including the famous Eastern Corridor road, for example Jasikan- Dodo-Pepesu road, Bolga-Bawku (80% complete) and Lawra-Hamile (complete) . There is road construction ongoing or completed in every region of the country. Under the previous government for example, after 8 years in office, not a single major road was completed in many regions including the Upper East and Upper West Regions!
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