The Member of Parliament (MP) for Oforikrom constituency in the Ashanti Region, Dr Emmanuel Kwabena Marfo is urging the government to use Public Private Partnership (PPP) to develop roads infrastructure in the country, specifically roads in the cities.
Ghana’s road infrastructure is inadequate and requires the government’s immediate attention because the country’s economy depends heavily on road infrastructure to support the movement of goods and services.
However, the Oforikrom legislator is of the firm conviction that, the government alone cannot fix the country’s road deficit because it lacks the financial capacity to undertake significant improvement and expansion of the road network.
He believes that the PPP model can fill this gap by attracting private sector investments. The private sector can provide innovation, expertise, and financing to complement government efforts in developing the country’s road infrastructure.
Private investors should be given the mandate to use their capital to build roads leading to their residences or workplaces. And by so doing they should be allowed to toll the roads at a certain prescribed fee to be able to recoup that investment, Dr Marfo has said.
“Sometimes when you go to some parts of Accra or Kumasi or in any other city in Ghana, you will see how nice private buildings are erected. And you look at the kind of roads that are there you wonder at what point government will be able to secure money to go and construct roads in those communities.
“We need to think about the PPP model where private investors or people who are building in these areas could be allowed to pull some private capital to develop the local roads and find a way to get their investment paid back either by using their investment to offset their payment for property rates or allowing them to toll the roads in those communities for a certain prescribed fee so that in the long term they will be able to recoup that investment. By so doing, you will get private people helping government road infrastructure within the merging communities in our cities.”
“So perhaps, we need to think about how we can use PPP to develop the country.” Dr Marfo made the suggestion in Ghana’s parliament yesterday.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) is a collaborative approach that involves the public sector joining hands with the private sector to develop infrastructure projects.
PPP has emerged as a significant tool for financing infrastructure projects globally, and its adoption promises to alleviate Ghana of the financial burden of developing its road infrastructure.
Source: Oyerepafmonline.com /Joseph Marfo
