The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, will commission roads in the Cape Coast Municipality in the Central region today, Monday, September 26, 2022.
The road project dubbed ‘Sinohydro road’ forms part of the government’s agenda to improve road networks across the country.
As part of the plans to address the poor road network in the country, the government declared 2020 and 2021 as the “Year of Roads”.
#YearOfRoads : COMMISSIONING OF CAPE COAST ROADS.
by V.P @MBawumia #SinohydroRoads #CapeCoastRoads #BuildingGhanaTogether pic.twitter.com/TMv8JEG9RN— Ghana Presidency (@GhanaPresidency) September 26, 2022
Background
In July 2018, Parliament passed the master project support agreement for a 2 billion dollar facility to construct priority projects by Chinese firm SynoHydro Corporation.
The facility is in exchange for alumina processed from bauxite deposits in the country, which Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta announced in the mid-year Budget Review in 2018.
Mr Ofori-Atta said in the mid-year budget review that Sinohydro Group Limited is expected to “provide US$2 billion of infrastructure including roads, bridges, interchanges, hospitals, housing, rural electrification, in exchange for Ghana’s refined bauxite.”
The house was earlier divided over the agreement.
While the Majority said the facility was just a barter agreement, the Minority said it was a loan that did not augur well for the economy.
Raising arguments against the motion for approval earlier, Deputy Minority Leader James Avedzi had indicated that the terms of the agreement only pointed to the fact that it was a loan, adding that the government was being untruthful.