Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi, has urged the government to prioritize Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a sustainable approach to addressing Ghana’s growing infrastructure deficit.
He stated that many countries are increasingly turning to PPPs to finance infrastructure, allowing private sector actors to take on significant responsibility for funding and managing public projects.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah highlighted Ghana’s critical infrastructure gap, worsened by fiscal constraints, rising debt, and limited access to international capital markets.
He noted that the demand for roads, energy, healthcare, water, and education far exceeds the government’s financial capacity at any given time.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, the former Minister for Works and Housing and Information under the Akufo-Addo administration emphasized that PPPs offer a viable alternative to traditional funding methods, which have become increasingly difficult to secure.
“In recent years, governments have resorted to expenditure cuts in response to these challenges. However, such measures risk slowing economic growth and limiting job creation,” he cautioned.
“By leveraging private sector capital, technical expertise, and innovation, PPPs can deliver essential projects more effectively while easing the financial burden on the government,” he stated.
Despite the passage of the Public-Private Partnership Act (Act 1039) in 2020, Ghana’s PPP framework remains underdeveloped, with only a few successful projects, such as parts of the Tema Motorway expansion and the Bonkra Inland Port.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah identified several challenges hindering the widespread adoption of PPPs among others Low Awareness and Preference for Traditional Contracts; Limited Technical Capacity; lack of sufficient expertise in structuring, modeling, and negotiating PPP agreements and Bureaucratic Delays.
To address these challenges and mainstream PPPs in Ghana’s infrastructure development, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah proposed several key actions including Increase Public Awareness, Capacity Building, investment in specialized training for government, attract private sector investment and introduce Risk Mitigation Measures.