The government has mobilised $1.7 billion towards the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway, Director of Legal Affairs for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe has disclosed.
Speaking on TV3’s New Day, Mr. Tamakloe said the project forms part of President John Dramani Mahama’s broader infrastructure development agenda and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s proposed $10 billion “Big Push” initiative.
According to him, the government had identified significant resources that could be leveraged to finance major infrastructure projects, provided they were managed with the necessary financial discipline.
“We indicated that there’s so much resource in this country that all that it required is the discipline, and we’ll be able to do it,” he said.
Mr. Tamakloe said the proposed expressway would provide a major road connection between Accra and Kumasi, describing it as consistent with what he called President Mahama’s record of pursuing major infrastructure projects.
“So, consistent with that, President Mahama decided that we are going to have an expressway from Kumasi to Accra, or Accra to Kumasi, whichever way you want to put it,” he stated.
“As we speak today, under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, we have already mobilized $1.7 billion for that project,” he added.
Mr. Tamakloe cited the Kejetia Market, Ridge Hospital, Kasoa Interchange and Kwame Nkrumah Interchange as examples of major infrastructure projects undertaken during President Mahama’s previous administration.
He also defended the costs associated with some of the projects, recalling criticism from then-NPP presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the cost of the Ridge Hospital and Kasoa Interchange.
Mr. Tamakloe said the then-NPP Member of Parliament for Ejisu and Ranking Member on the Roads and Highways Committee, Owusu-Agyemang, had subsequently challenged claims that the Kasoa Interchange project had been inflated.
“He said, ‘Yes, you are candidate, but on this issue, it cannot be correct, because these are World Bank specifications,’” Mr Tamakloe recalled.
He said the government’s current infrastructure programme was building on what he described as President Mahama’s established record in delivering major development projects.
The proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway is expected to form part of the government’s broader infrastructure programme under the NDC’s “Big Push” initiative.
