Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu has charged Parliament to allocate US$200 million dollars of the Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA) over the next five years for the development of the railway sector of the country.
According to him, this will ensure available funding for developing a durable railway infrastructure over the period.
He stated that Ghana as a country must prioritize railway development and such a move will ensure adequate resources are reserved for the sector to improve the general transportation of persons and particularly goods and services across the country.
Haruna Iddrisu made the call on Wednesday, December 14, during debate on the Motion to approve the annual budget estimates of the Ministry of Railway Development.
He argued that the ABFA that Parliament approves every year should not only be used for consumption hence the need to allocate such an amount for the development of the railway sector by all governments.
He said, “We cannot be using the returns from our oil resources only for consumption-related expenditure.”
“So it is my view that when the government is prioritizing per the petroleum revenue management act monies meant for the ABFA, the government should prioritize railway development.”
“We can bring in a Korean or a Japanese group and dedicate about US$1 billion over a period and task them to build an efficient railway system from Wa to Takoradi, and we’ll know every year $200 million of that is used to service it,” he added.
