Tuesday, 25th February, 2025
Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Ofoase Ayirebi
Mr Speaker, Ghana in the last decade has faced a critical infrastructure and public service deficit, heightened by fiscal constraints, rising debt levels, and limited access to international capital markets. The demand for road investments, energy, healthcare, water, and education far exceeds the Government's financial capacity to deliver at any point in time.
Traditional financing mechanisms such as domestic revenue, foreign loans, and donor grants have become increasingly difficult to mobilise. To contain the situation, most administrations resort to cutting government expenditure. This also has the risk of cutting growth and limiting job creation. Globally many governments are growing a deepened interest in the use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a viable alternative route to bridge the infrastructure and public service finance gap.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in this context refers to a contractual arrangement where the private sector assumes significant financing and project management risk and responsibility for delivering public infrastructure or services over a medium to long-term period. Ghana's PPP journey began in the early 2000s. Until recently, there was no comprehensive legal framework governing these partnerships. In 2011, the government introduced the
National PPP Policy to guide the structuring and implementation of projects. In the year 2020, Parliament passed and the President assented to (Act 1039), which provides a structured legal framework for PPPs, outlining project selection, risk-sharing mechanisms, and oversight responsibilities. It is fair to say that the PPP ecosystem is still in its nascent phases in Ghana. Nonetheless a limited number of projects have been developed within this ecosystem.
These include parts of the Tema Motorway expansion project, the Boankra inland port project, among others. By leveraging private sector capital, technical expertise, and innovation, PPPs can deliver essential projects more efficiently while reducing the financial burden on the government. PPPs have the added advantage of strengthening the private sector as it provides long term business opportunities.
Mr Speaker, we observe however, that the development of further PPPs is facing some challenges. I want to highlight a few and make some recommendations.
First, there is the low level of awareness and preference for PPPs within both the private and public sectors. Most private and public institutions prefer outright contracts between the government and the private sector where the private sector delivers, and the government is obliged to pay. As a result, project promoters hardly prefer PPP models. Public institutions will also rather turn down a promoter because of limited funds than structure a proposed project as a PPP project. The low appetite for PPP projects must urgently be turned around if PPP projects are to be mainstreamed.
Second, there is limited capacity for structuring, modelling and negotiating PPP transactions. Even where there exists an appetite for a PPP structure, there is limited capacity in modelling and negotiating PPP structures within the private sector, public sector and consulting communities. There needs to be a broader scope of experts across fields who possess the capacity to structure a negative PPP.
Third, regulatory and bureaucratic bottlenecks inherent in the current PPP Act, slow down the process of negotiating and executing a PPP transaction. Anecdotal evidence suggests in some cases that it takes close to a year to even put one project together. It is imperative to simplify the processes for cutting a PPP transaction.
Fourth, the very nature of PPP projects apportions part of the financing and project management risks to the private sector partners. This high level of risk coupled with macro-economic risks of high inflation and exchange rate depreciation, often makes PPP projects extra risky for private players. It is important to explore ways to de-risk projects through instruments such as guarantees, among others.
Recommendations
Mr Speaker, there is the need to urgently mainstream PPP projects in delivering public infrastructure and services. To unlock the full potential of PPPs, I urge Government to consider the following key reforms: Improving the level of awareness and acceptability of PPPs: It is important for increased public and stakeholder engagement to mainstream PPPs in infrastructure and service delivery.
Improving specialised PPP capacity: Government needs to deepen investment in specialised training for government officials in PPP negotiation, risk assessment, and financial structuring. Consulting groups such as law firms, accounting firms and project management firms should also deepen capacity enhancement of specialists on PPP modelling and transaction structuring.
De-risking investments and ensuring bankability: Introduce credit enhancement mechanisms, such as governmentbacked guarantees, to attract investors. The Ministry of Works and Housing's lands for district houses initiative is an example of developing housing projects.
The PPP Act itself, though new, may require some immediate amendments to some sections and enforcement of others. For example, facilitating instruments such as the Project Development Facility provided in Section 77 of the PPP Act has to be made robust to reduce some of the bottlenecks in project implementation. The regulations to the PPP Act need to be passed to fill grey areas and simplify implementation of the Act. The Act also needs amendment to provide for direct negotiations as an equally weighted option to competitive bidding.
Finally, Government needs to package a pipeline of bankable PPPs on infrastructure and public services and regularly embark on roadshows to attract potential PPP Partners. This will fasttrack the roll out of PPP projects.
Mr Speaker, in conclusion, PPPs present a strategic solution to Ghana's infrastructure challenges, offering a pathway to sustainable development without overburdening public finances. I urge Government to pay attention to the PPP option and mainstream it in delivering infrastructure and services for the benefit of the Ghanaian people. Thank you for the opportunity, Mr Speaker.
Hon Emmanuel Drah
Upperwest Akim
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for indulging me to make a comment on the Statement. First of all, I would want to commend the maker of the Statement, Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, former Minister for Works and Housing.
Mr Speaker, I have picked a lot of importance from the Statement made as far as PPP to enhance public infrastructural development is concerned. If it is properly done and properly monitored, it will attract a lot of investors into the country.
But, Mr Speaker, I want to draw your attention to one important issue on Public-Private Partnership. In 2017, there were some investors in Ghana to partner with the Government for the construction of public toilet facilities in the whole of Ghana, all regions. That company, named Ghana First Company Limited, went into an agreement with several contractors, not less than 500 contractors in Ghana, upon sighting a document from the then Ministry of Local Government through the MMDCEs that this project be sited in all the districts and municipal assemblies across Ghana.
Mr Speaker, it will surprise you to know that, as we speak, that project has been abandoned. A lot of contractors, from the information I gathered, suggested that some even died out of frustration because they borrowed money, huge sums of money, to finance or pre-finance the project to a certain degree of completion. Engineering assessments indicated that they have financed the project to a tune of 65 per cent awaiting payment.
Several follow ups were made and committees were formed, but to no avail. This will not make the industry attractive. If we want to attract investors into the country to partner with the Government, then when we are doing it, it should be done properly. I will urge the current Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs to make a follow-up on this because wherever one drives through—
Mr Speaker, I am sure you have come across some of these projects in the bush, 24-seater water closets are just left like that and money has gone into it. As at the time they were doing the estimate, one particular or a single unit of this facility was over GH₵600,000. This is about seven years now, and if it has to be properly revalued, we are looking at not less than GH₵1 million per unit, and thousands of these facilities have just been left in the bush; nothing is being done about it.
So, Mr Speaker, I would want to thank the maker of the Statement again, and to also thank you for indulging me to make a contribution to this particular important matter. Mr Second Deputy Speaker: Thank you very much. Yes, let me give the opportunity to the Hon Member for Manso Nkwanta.
Hon Tweneboa Kodua Fokuo
Manso Nkwanta
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I take this opportunity to also thank the maker of the Statement, the Hon Member for Ofoase Ayirebi.
Mr Speaker, indeed, PPP is the way forward to financing the big needful projects that we need to give us the comfort that we deserve as a people. The country cannot shy away from the fact that we cannot or we do not have all the needed resources to finance the big projects that we need and PPP is the way. Given that we have the necessary funds; it is not prudent to put all these funds into just a few big projects because the risk is just too much. So, it is proper and prudent to always de-risk.
Mr Speaker, at this point in time, I believe as a country, we all agree that having a railway line from, let us say, the coastline all the way to our northern border is something good to have. But ask yourself, can we really finance such a project, a railway line from the coastline to the northern border? This is going to cost us so much, but does it mean we should shy away from it and not have it in our lifetime? This is where a scheme like PPP comes to play. A PPP can help us to have such a big project done and done in time.
Mr Speaker, but the caution here is that we need to be detailed in our agreements with concessionaires when we are getting into PPP agreements. This is because what happens is that most of the times, these detailed documents are brought in by the concessionaires. They will sit with their analysts, do all the work, the modelling, the big cash flow works, and everything, and then bring it to the table.
We might have limited capacity or limited time to even negotiate, so by the time one realises, they have signed to something that they did not really go through the feasibility well. So, one might sign on to this big idea of having a railway line traversing the entire country; only to realise later on that, for instance the fare that has to be paid by the indigenes will be so much that people cannot even afford to travel on such beautiful railway lines.
So, my caution is that we should always be detailed at the initial stages. Right from the onset, we should be knowledgeable about it or consult specialists to really understand it and to know what we are signing onto because the primary interest of concessionaires is to get their money out as quickly as possible. They might tell us this project will pay for itself within 20 years, but really, if we go into it, we would realise that for our people to be able to afford, maybe it should be like 30 years. So, we should be involved right from the onset and get expert advice before we sign onto anything.
But, Mr Speaker, I strongly believe and I am aligned with the maker of the Statement that PPP is the way forward. Countries across the world have benefited from PPP. Even the USA with its GDP of about US$29 trillion still benefits from PPP. So, there are countries around the world for us to learn from and get the experience to avoid the pitfalls that can rather negate these beautiful ideas.
So, I support the maker of the Statement and I congratulate you. Thank you.
Hon Yusif Sulemana
Bole Bamboi
Mr Speaker, let me thank my Brother for the very important Statement he made this morning. I would not say much except to add that he lamented the fact that there is some lack of patronage.
This is rightly so because it seems we do not appreciate the various strategies and models that we are supposed to use to roll out PPPs. For instance, in a situation where the Government has made a promise to construct a particular road; that road can be economically viable but in terms of finances, it may not be financially viable.
For such projects, there is a model where we can come in with what we call the viability gap funding. When we use viability gap funding in this particular approach, we are able to reduce the period we are going to use in repaying the facility and making it more economical for the people to be able to pay. These are the strategies that we should be using.
Unfortunately, like he said, because there is no education going on, we are unable to make use of these strategies. In so many jurisdictions, it has become very clear that we cannot rely on only the Government to undertake such strategic projects and that is why I think that this Statement is very important.
I think that we should not just contribute to the Statement and let go; we should have a second look at this Statement and where it needs some inter-ministerial collaboration to educate, first and foremost, our contractors, financial institutions and even the Government, it can go a long way to help us. Financial institutions and contractors should be able to talk together and come up with models that would be appropriate for us to make good use of PPP in our development efforts.
I want to thank the Hon Member once again for bringing this issue up.
Hon Francis Asenso-Boakye
Bantama
Mr Speaker, I want to thank the maker of the Statement for his very insightful thoughts on mainstreaming PPP for public infrastructure financing. Because of the finance background of the maker of the Statement, and his one-year term at the Ministry of Works and Housing makes him well placed to provide that kind of insight.
Mr Speaker, as the others have said, this is very timely because as a country, we cannot rely on budgetary allocation to meet our infrastructure gap. And I believe that is the reason my respected Colleague came up with this very important Statement.
Mr Speaker, as a former Minister for Roads and Highways and also Works and Housing, I have experienced firsthand challenges associated with financing for public infrastructure and I believe my Colleague who is yet to speak, the current Minister for Roads and Highways who then in opposition had been the foremost spokesperson on infrastructure, would agree with me that there are serious challenges when it comes to financing of public infrastructure.
Mr Speaker, thankfully, the maker of the Statement made very important suggestions as to what we can do to address this problem but there are two critical ones I would want to dwell on: The first one is strengthening the project preparation and bankability.
Mr Speaker, one of the biggest obstacles to the implementation of the PPP project is the lack of well-packaged, well-prepared bankable projects that are attractive to investors and it is so because normally, there is what I would call weak feasibility studies, unclear risk allocation as well as financial uncertainty. That is why I want to join the maker of the Statement in calling for the strengthening of the project development facility. Once this is strengthened, we will be able to provide some funds for early funding and technical assistance so that we can have well-packaged projects that would be attractive to investors. The other aspect is also addressing the bureaucratic delays and regulatory uncertainties.
These projects that we have—I have experienced a number of occasions where projects have been delayed at the Procurement Authority level all because of the bureaucratic nature of our procurement processes. That is why I want to call for the review of the PPP Act to streamline processes and introduce clear timelines for approvals.
Mr Speaker, once this is done, we will be able to fast-track the processes leading to the adoption and implementation of PPP projects. Additionally, I would like to support the proposal by the maker of the Statement to allow for direct negotiations in cases where competitive bidding is impractical. As long as there is the principle of value for money and transparency, sometimes we do not necessarily have to go into competitive bidding.
Mr Speaker, the PPP projects are not just an option but it is imperative if we want to address the infrastructure gap that we face in our country. On this note, I want to once again commend the maker of the Statement and I thank you for the opportunity
Hon Kwame Governs Agbodza
Adaklu
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to comment on this very important Statement made by our Colleague, the former Minister for Works and Housing. I also acknowledge the very important points made by my Colleagues who contributed earlier.
Mr Speaker, indeed, I agree with him that we need to take a second look at the Act 1039. He made very important points that I believe would be the way forward. At this moment, Act 1039 appears to be very distant from some policymakers or decision-makers regarding Public-Private Partnership projects. So I agree with him entirely when he says that we need to build a capacity of these individuals who take part in the formulation of these projects.
Mr Speaker, I also agree with my Colleague who talked about the need to build the capacities of even the people who put the contract together. Sometimes when I read some of the contracts we put together between us and others, it is as if we are specialists in designing contracts against ourselves; because the contracts are so bad against us that we ask ourselves if Ghanaians were involved in the formulation of these contracts. So I think there is a need to build the capacities of this. However, a critical point was also made by the former Minister for Roads and Highways. Many of the projects we attempted to put on PPP lacked the necessary project preparation before we entered into those agreements making it difficult to even enforce.
Mr Speaker, as we speak, none of the two projects mentioned by my very good Friend, the former Minister for Works and Housing, is actually a PPP project in any real sense. One, Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal is not PPP. That project is entirely funded by the Ghana Government through Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). On paper, this House approved a PPP agreement, but guess what: the developer never had the capacity to raise any fund. The question is, did this House carry out proper due diligence or did the Ministry which actually entered into this agreement do that? So, as we speak, whatever we see at Boankra today is 100 per cent Government funded through GPHA, so it is not a PPP. Maybe, it is time that the current Minister for Transport came back to the House to be bold and just review the agreement and say that we still want to go ahead with the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal, but it is not a PPP.
Mr Speaker, second, the Accra-Tema Motorway is not a PPP. Also, this House approved a PPP agreement, but all the money that has been paid for the TemaMotorway is from Government of Ghana (GoG). So, there is no private person involved in the Accra-Tema Motorway as of now. So, we do not have any record of implementing any successful PPP under this current regime, and I believe that, while we want, for instance, the Tema-Motorway to be completed, if GoG is the one funding it, what is the point pretending it is a PPP?
Mr Speaker, it means, so far, that the Act 1039 is still just a law in the books; we have not been able to actually have it. On daily basis, I get a minimum of six to 10 individuals and companies come to my office to enter into a PPP to do this road or the other. Everybody comes to say he or she knows somebody in China or Turkey who can fund project up to 10 billion. If one, we ask them of how they fund it, they say they would bring the money. If we ask of how we would pay them, then they begin to scratch their head simply because the issue is not about the law. The issue is about the economy of this country. Even for one to build a road, from here to Kumasi which is 250 kilometres, maybe, it would be US$2.5 billion; there is no shortage of money to be able to do this, but how does the person recoup his money? One cannot expect somebody to put in US$2.5 billion and get paid in 150 years’ time.
Mr Speaker, the economy of the country determines the kind of PPP one can achieve. USA can get into a PPP successfully because the economy can support it. At the moment, it is not very feasible for us to enter into PPP and deal with the major infrastructure projects that is why the point made by the former Minister for Roads and Highways is very critical. If we prepare the project very well, we would get to know whether it is bankable because, out of those details, it would work out quite clearly, but if we just rush and say we want to do, let us say, Boankra without the processes being fully explored, what we have is a situation where the House actually takes a decision that we enter into a PPP and, at the end of the day, we keep funding it.
Mr Speaker, this is a very critical situation because, today, I cannot advise Government or I will not even have the opportunity to advise Government to do any PPP on road project because I need to back it with something. One of the ways I believe we can do this is the reintroduction of the toll. Why the reintroduction of the toll? We should be able to have a tolling regime that is fair, and that the accruals are safe. A situation where tolls are collected and then one gets to the toll booth after queuing for 45 minutes, and the person at the toll booth says the machine is broken down and he attempts to give him or her a receipt that he tears with the hand. Sometimes, there is not even any receipt and the person is paying GH₵1.
Mr Speaker, that cannot accrue to a fund that the Government can leverage on to embark on a PPP on road project. I will be coming to the House with a full disclosure on exactly how we want to implement the toll and make it an opencompetitive bidding, so the best possible solution is achieved, at least on the sector of the Road Ministry. So, I think this is a very important Statement made by our Colleague, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, and we should take it seriously and work on it.
But just to make the clarification that, for now, the two projects he cited as examples—Accra-Tema Motorway, in effect, is not a PPP project because it is only paid for by Government, and Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal is also fully funded by GPHA on behalf of Government, so no private sector player has showed up with a dollar, and that is very worrying for the law that we have passed.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity.
Hon Abdul Kabiru Tiah Mahama
Walewale
Mr Speaker thank you very much. I also want to join in commending the maker of the Statement, the respected Hon Member for Ofoase Ayirebi, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
Mr Speaker, the issue on the table and before this House has more to do with development financing than, if you like, project planning and implementation. I say this because when one looks at development financing, basically, one of the ways Government finance developments is through debt financing, and debt financing go either in the form of monetary debt financing or infrastructure debt financing. PPP is one of the means through which we fund development by way of infrastructure debt financing.
Mr Speaker, the issue of PPP and its importance has been highlighted by the maker of the Statement. The Hon Member has specified some of the myths, and inherent challenges in the implementation or in the adoption of PPP arrangements in development financing and awareness creation, but we realised that, almost every single sector of the economy: transportation, housing, if we like, education, we can really leverage on Public-Private Partnership to ensure development.
The former Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, came out with an initiative that we were hoping that we could implement should the Ghanaian people had given us the opportunity, especially in the area of education. Why would it have to take Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to go into the construction of hostels? It does not make economic sense where Government will have to take major infrastructure development like the building of hostels and we have to rely on limited funding from GETFund to support educational facilities.
Mr Speaker, PPP is one of the viable means to ensuring that government is able to bridge the development gap in the area of infrastructure. The importance of infrastructure is well established. We will enhance economic development through the provision of infrastructure. But I want to highlight one important thing that the maker of the Statement has stated.
How do we make sure that PPP works? That is the focus, and I think that we should, as a House, agree that PPP is a viable tool to bridging infrastructure deficit or infrastructure gap, but how do we ensure that it works? I think that apart from the law, the Act that was passed by this House, we should look at the projects submitted by the Minister for Finance to this House in the Budget. Which of them can we offload to PPP, and if the House so decide that, in the interest of limited budgetary allocation, let us offload ABCD projects to PPP, then, clearly, every Member of the House will have known that ABCD projects are offloaded to be implemented not through the mainstream Government funding but through PPP.
Mr Speaker, there is one thing we do not know. The benefit of PPP to the private investor is even far more than the classical contracting regime where you will do your project and they will pay you and you go. The importance of PPP is such that it enhances investment longevity. In other words, one can draw revenue over 10 to 50 years, but in the case of the classical contracting, one embarks on the project, executes it, takes the money and goes. Value for money and returns on investment is not even— It does not make investment sense to do that.
A private person would rather be more interested in partaking in PPP than in the classical contracting regime where one embarks on a project, they pay him, he takes his moneys and go. It is very important we do that.
Mr Speaker, lastly, I would want to also suggest that apart from the budgetary offloading of projects, we could include in every brochure produced by every Ministry, Agency, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), opportunities for PPP. So, that if I go to the Ministry of the Interior and I see ABCD in the brochure somewhere, I would be able to tell that when I call this investor, they would be able to participate with Government in providing ABCD.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity given.
Hon Gizella Akushika Tetteh-Agbotui
Awutu Senya West
Mr Speaker, thank you very much. I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the maker of the Statement who has just come out from a space where he knows that PPPs would work or would have worked very well for him there.
Mr Speaker, one thing I have observed about the PPPs is capacity-building. Now, there are a lot of consultants who are in the private sector. I would suggest that the Ghana Institute of Engineering, Project Management professionals, Ghana Institute of Surveyors, and Ghana Institute of Architects undergo this kind of capacity-building for PPPs.
It is very important because sometimes, if one looks at the consultancy space, there is a huge percentage of them in the private sector. But in the public sector, they have the benefit of training in PPPs in IP3 and other institutions that the private sector may not have because of sponsorship and all that. I would suggest that they should just try and build local capacity.
There are people over here in the public sector who have those skills, which can be transferable to the private sector. Because the strength of a PPP is very important that the parties are very good in negotiation. So, that is where legal skills also come to play. I cannot underscore or underestimate the value of skills in being able to build up in these areas. For example, in the water sector, perhaps maybe somebody has some funding and wants to build a water system, naturally they would like that it must be paid for somehow. One builds it, operates it and transfers it.
But during that period, one wants to be sure that they would be able to get their returns plus profitability, which should be able to maintain the plants. Some of these will also relate to tariff-building and all that and I think that it is a skill on its own. But it is very important that we build the capacity.
Mr Speaker, in Malaysia or so, the Office of the President has a PPP office literally attached to it and that shows the importance of PPPs and the value that the government attaches to it. In the USA, like a Colleague said, majority of the roads that have been tolled are often under PPPs. One cannot have a certain quantum of infrastructure without having a certain segment of them under the PPPs regime. Moving forward, for our Government, as we intend to reset, we also intend to look at some of these arrangements, but in a more practical and pragmatic way.
But it is very important to build the capacity of institutions, and personnel who would be negotiating, executing, managing and facilitating. At the end of the day, because one would want to transfer a project completed, still wellmaintained with a certain lifespan after it has been completed and used. It is very important that those skills, from beginning to end, are learned appropriately in this country.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much,
Hon Frank Annoh-Dompreh
Nsawam/Adoagyiri
Mr Speaker, let me start on a note of congratulating our Colleague for setting up a very important conversation. It is my prayer that we would push this matter to its logical conclusion.
Mr Speaker, many Members who have spoken to this matter have tried to put matters in context, especially the Minister for Road and Highways who spoke to it, citing very good examples. The former Minister for Roads and Highways also did the same. From where I sit, I may be wrong, but I get this impression that political parties and governments are formed on certain ideologies; centre-right, centre left. More often than not, we tend to be guided overly by these concepts that form political parties who eventually take over the reign of governance of a country. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is known to be a capitalist party. The former President John Agyekum Kufuor took over the reign of this government. He is on record to have implemented social policies.
Arguably, one of the best social policies implemented happened in the time of former President Kufuor. Then one looks at our Colleagues in the NDC, who are also credited as socialists. Hence, if one looks at the policies that they implement, more often than not, may not necessarily reflect their beliefs. Political parties are beginning to shift away from their main fulcrum of concept that formed these parties.
The PPP, more often than not, are known to be a concept that capitalist States normally buy into and it has been the trend. Now, with the changes and the vagaries of geopolitics as is happening now, even the socialists themselves are beginning to turn to that concept. I think we need to change our mindset. There is a fundamental need for a mindset change. Yes, unless we do that, this whole concept of PPP, would still be new to us. We talked about it nicely, passed the Act, and thought that we have arrived.
The discussions are held, then it goes to the Ministry for Finance, then unto the shelves and gets dusty there. People are afraid. The fear is still there. There is a lot of fear associated with it. I think that our Colleague has set the tone. It is something we need as a Parliament. We need to upgrade further, probably get a Committee to work on the fine details. Why are we unable to enforce the Act that we passed? Why is finance more often than not—In both administrations, we are all guilty—They drag their feet.
The Ministers who are very much aware—When we speak to them one-on-one on concepts of PPP, they are very much aware about it. They love it. When it comes to implementation, then they drag their feet. Why is that so? For me, that is a mystery. Until we resolve that, we would not be able to make the headway that we all need. Of course, we all know government cannot fund all projects by itself. We need a partnership from the public. This is unknown and we speak about it as theories. How do we demystify this theory and get people to understand that, indeed, this is the approach? My respected Minister for Roads and Highways, whom I know is very much into such matters is not too comfortable. As he said, with the projects that were mentioned, out there, they are known as a PPP projects.
But indeed, when he got to the Ministry, he realised it was something that had to be funded by the Government. So, what is it? Whom are we deceiving? In one breath, we brandish PPP, and in another breath, we come lagging. I want to go away from the theory. Let us get practical. This is a matter—I thought that this should have come from their Side. But well, this is a House and once it is coming from our Side, it is the Parliament of Ghana and that is fine.
We want to see a certain road map and that road map, Mr Speaker, must be a departure from what we are known for and used to. The PPP theories, where do they end? They do not go anywhere. I hope we would be able to redefine our approach in terms of the prosecution of the concept of PPP. Thankfully, we are very good—Hon Gizella TettehAgbotui, I know, is very good; that is one of her areas. She has been a consultant to GETFund for a long time. I have been chasing a few payments for her. She is good in that area. My good Friend, the Hon Minister for Roads and Highways, is also very good.
Mr Speaker, if we wish to come to some logical conclusion on this matter, some work has to be done, and if we can continue and get the Committee to do a thorough work on this PPP concept, I think we would be able to make headway.
Fact be told, Mr Speaker, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. There are other jurisdictions like Indonesia for instance—As at independence, Ghana’s per capita income was the same as Indonesia. Indonesia is doing so well on the concept of PPP. I am told India is equally doing so well. So, we may have to pick up some lessons from this and appropriate it into our unique circumstance as a country then we can get the role clear and prosecute the matter. Let me commend Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; he is a proud easterner—
Mr Speaker, I am only commending my fellow easterner for bringing up such an important matter and also setting up an important discussion.
Mr Speaker, let us not wish this matter away; let us continue with it. The discussion should go on and I am sure that we would come to some logical conclusion and define a workable path. I thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Richard Acheampong
Bia East
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. Let me thank the maker of the Statement, Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
He was a Member of the Finance Committee when we passed the PPP Act, 2020 (Act 1039). He played an instrumental role in passing that Bill into an Act. So, coming back to inform the House that there are some defects in the law, so, he is seeking the consent of all Members so that we can do some amendments to make the law work, is in order.
Mr Speaker, every investor wants to maximise his profit. I remember we met with the Ministry of Finance and they walked us through the processes. We could see about 25 projects identified, but they would come the next day to tell us that the project is not bankable. How can a person recoup his or her investment if he or she puts, let us say, US$1billion into this road project or infrastructure? So, he is looking back maybe, 10 or 25 years to get back his money.
Another leg is that he or she would come back to the state for state guarantee. It becomes a contingent liability on the state, a failure to make due the repayment. These are some of the issues we need to address. If we do proper assessment and we get to know that a contractor does not have the capacity to execute the project, by public education, a person can put two or three contractors together to form a consortium so that they can execute the project. Like the example the Minister for Roads and Highways just gave, on paper, we have entered into an agreement that this project is a PPP-funded project, but in reality, the person does not have the capacity to raise the resource.
The state would end up raising the scarce resources to commence the project and sometimes, to complete the project. So, why do they invite someone who does not have the capacity in the first place? Who did the project appraisal? Who did the assessment? And who executed that contract? When we walk on the street, we see that a project is a PPP arrangement for 25 years, the investor would recoup his investment, but at the end of the day, he does not have the capacity to undertake the project and the burden would still come to the state.
Mr Speaker, there are some projects located in some areas of the country but no investor would also venture into those areas. Let us get it right and get the projects in order so that we allow the private investors to venture into these areas, so that the state would also take up other low hanging projects. This is so that the people would benefit and would give the private sector the needed education.
We would create an enabling environment for them so that they can also venture into those areas for the good of all of us. Let me again thank the maker of the Statement and I am looking forward to him coming either by a Private Member’s Bill to amend the Act, or the state would take over. We would work on it in whichever way we think would help us because we understand the law and we passed it. So, we can easily do the amendment to fit our current situation. This is so that the private sector would also take advantage of it for the good of all of us.
Thank you very much.
AskParly