The result is that we have, spread across the country, a countless number of uncompleted projects, many of which will cost far more to complete now than they would have cost, if they had been completed on schedule.
While the frequent changes in government have partly been the cause of this phenomenon, many projects have not seen completion because successive governments have been more interested in announcing new projects at every budget session and sometimes even going to the extent of cutting sods for the commencement of projects, when we are not very sure where funds would be obtained to execute them.
News that the government has released about GH¢400 million to pay for ongoing capital government of Ghana-funded projects throughout the country must, therefore, come as good news to all.
The Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the amount, thanks to the recent Eurobond flotation, had already been moved from the reserve account into the Consolidated Fund.
The country is awash with many uncompleted projects, a great number of them started as far back as the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
It is worrying to note that most of these projects have either been suspended or abandoned because they had not been fully budgeted for and, therefore, no funds existed in the national kitty for their completion.
Some major road projects, including the Tetteh Quarshie-Madina road, the Anyinam-Konongo-Nkawkaw bypass, the Sofoline Overpass in Kumasi, as well as other transportation and social infrastructural projects that are to benefit from the release are major projects which will bring great relief to all Ghanaians on completion.
The government has indicated that no new projects will be started till the ongoing ones are completed.
We do not know how long it will take to complete all these projects, but we are convinced that there is a lot of wisdom in the decision.
Already, Parliament has approved the use of a percentage of the Eurobond as counterpart funds to trigger the disbursement of donor funded projects.
This is expected to lead to the release of funds by donors for projects that are being supported by them but which have also been abandoned because Ghana has not met its side of the funding arrangements.
Not too long ago, Ghana was declared a lower middle-income country. With the start of the production of oil, Ghana’s economy was said to be among the fastest growing last year.
We cannot consolidate our status as a middle-income country if we continue to abandon projects and have scattered across the country edifices into which we have sunk state resources but which have no benefit to the populace.
The Daily Graphic is hopeful that the funds accrued from the Eurobond will be properly managed and be free from some of the unacceptable practices that have bedeviled the nation’s resources.
We owe it a duty to generations unborn to make good use of state resources. It is only then that we can make progress as nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and others who, at the time of our independence, took inspiration from us but which, as a result of prudent management, are now far ahead of us.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
