Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur says government alone cannot deal with the infrastructure problem confronting the country.
This, he said, was due to financial constraints facing the public sector, which makes public reliance on government for infrastructure unattainable.
Mr Amissah Arthur made this known while speaking at the fourth Ghana Economic Forum organized by the Business & Financial Times newspaper in collaboration with Joy FM.
The forum was aimed at creating a platform to diagnose the country’s economic challenges and proffer solutions to them.
Vice President called for private sector support in dealing with the infrastructure problem through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
It is the policy of government to encourage private companies to get actively involved in the provision of public infrastructure, he indicated.
‘In Ghana there has been a long-standing tradition that the provision of public infrastructure is the responsibility of the central government, but we have to modify our thinking because given the extent of our budget deficit, we can no longer expect the government to undertake solely, through budget allocations, the provision of public infrastructure,’ he said.
Mr Amissah Arthur said about $1.5 billion was needed annually for 10 years to tackle the country’s infrastructure deficit.
He said the funds could not be raised by government, adding that ‘the policy of encouraging PPPs is the best chance of leveraging resources and expertise to close the funding gap.’
‘If we do that, we will deliver efficient public infrastructure which will serve to catalyze economic growth,’ he stressed.
Cephas Larbi
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