Joe Ghartey denies authorizing $2M payment for Accra Sky Train Project
Former Minister of Railways Development, Joe Ghartey, has dismissed allegations that his ministry authorized a $2 million payment for the Accra Sky Train project.
Mr. Ghartey clarified that the payment was made by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), not the ministry under his stewardship.
“It is the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund that paid the money and the Fund is mandated to make such payments and so if the Minority wants anyone to refund the money, they should tell the Auditor General to ask the Fund to refund the money.
“It is the statutory corporation that has the power to make such payments and so you can ask them,” he explained.
His comment comes on the back of an allegation made by the Minority in Parliament that $2 million was invested in the botched Accra Sky Train project.
The Minority revealed that the $2 million to Africa Investor Holdings Limited, a firm in Mauritius, for the project, was made without parliamentary approval
However, Mr. Ghartey stressed that the said claims were merely propaganda by the Minority.”I went to South Africa in 2018 to make the presentation because the quality of life is affected by heavy traffic and then the South Africans came. The company went back and said they wanted a concession agreement of 30 years and I said it was not possible. The company went away and was supposed to come in 2020 and then there was COVID-19.
“And so far as my Ministry is concerned, we did not give them any money. I didn’t have any money and I didn’t have the power to pay any money and I did not pay any money. I don’t have the power to write for payment to the company in Mauritius,” Mr. Ghartey said in a Citi FM interview monitored by theghanareport.com.
The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund was established to mobilize, manage, coordinate, and provide financial resources for investment in a diversified portfolio of infrastructure projects in Ghana.
The Accra Sky Train Project
The proposed Accra Train system is an integrated, elevated rail urban transit system that is aimed at providing an efficient, cost-effective, reliable, safe, and accessible public transport network in Accra.
The government, through GIIF, signed a concession agreement in November 2018 with the firm in Mauritius, Africa Investor, to construct the $ 1.9 billion Accra Skytrain project.
The Railway Minister at the time, Joe Ghartey, was confident that the project was the solution to the traffic congestion problems of Accra.
As a world-class mass transport system, the GIIF was optimistic that the project would create 5,000 jobs during its construction and further development of the capital.
But as of now, the sky train project is yet to be executed.