Government to use petroleum revenue to fund Accra-Kumasi expressway – Ato Forson

Finance Minister, Cassiel Ato Forson, says government will no longer borrow money to finance the Accra-Kumasi Expressway project, as it plans to use petroleum revenues and mineral royalties to fund major infrastructure projects.

Speaking at the Ishmael Yamson and Associates Business Roundtable held on Thursday at the Kempiski Gold Coast Hotel, Dr. Forson said the decision forms part of government’s “Big Push” agenda aimed at improving road infrastructure across the country.

According to him, government has earmarked about 4.5 billion cedis in this year’s budget for road infrastructure development, with a strong focus on major projects.

He explained that in the past, oil revenues were spread across several activities that did not directly support infrastructure development.

“We have changed the law. We have said that Ghana’s oil revenue should only be used for infrastructure projects,” he stated.

Dr. Forson said government now intends to dedicate petroleum revenues to one major project over a fixed period to ensure prudent use of state resources.

He disclosed that government raised nearly 500 million dollars from oil revenues last year and secured another 500 million dollars from mineral royalties following the rise in global gold prices.

According to him, the two revenue sources provided about one billion dollars, which is being used to finance the Accra-Kumasi Expressway project.

The Finance Minister noted that government expects to generate an additional 1.5 billion dollars this year, bringing the total available funds for the project to about 2.5 billion dollars over two years.

He said the Accra-Kumasi Expressway is expected to cost about 4 billion dollars, adding that government plans to fully finance the project without borrowing.

“We will fund it without borrowing,” he stressed.

Dr. Forson criticised past spending practices, saying portions of oil revenue were previously used for activities such as travel, conferences and other recurrent expenses instead of development projects.

He said government has stopped such practices and will instead focus on major infrastructure projects that will benefit the country in the long term.

According to him, after the completion of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway, government will identify another major infrastructure project for funding through the same approach.

By: Jacob Aggrey