Ghana Faces $12 Billion Road Maintenance Challenge

- Ghana needs $12 billion to fix its 94,203 km road network.
- Government can only fund 38% of road infrastructure.
- Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) proposed to bridge funding gap.
- Government seeks private sector involvement to address road sector challenges.
Ghana’s road network, spanning an estimated 94,203 kilometers, requires a significant investment of $12 billion to address maintenance backlogs and pave roads across the country. However, the government currently only has the capacity to fund 38% of the total road infrastructure, leaving a staggering 72% of roads unattended to.
To bridge this funding gap, the government is exploring Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a viable solution. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia emphasized the need for private sector involvement in road infrastructure development during a High-Level Expert Panel Discussion in Accra.
The forum aimed to create a platform for stakeholders to discuss sustainable financing mechanisms for Ghana’s road sector and address persistent challenges. Vice President Bawumia stressed that budget funding alone is not sufficient to meet the demand for road infrastructure, highlighting the need for alternative funding sources.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, presented statistics on funding for the road sector over the last eight years, revealing that the government spent 10 billion cedis on roads from January to June this year. Minister of Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso Boakye, discussed the proposed National Roads Authority and its role in addressing the sector’s challenges.
World Bank Country Director, Dr. Robert Taliercio O’Brien, commended the government’s successes in the road sector but noted that issues like delayed payments to contractors need to be addressed. The forum, spearheaded by the Ghana Highway Authority as part of its 50th-anniversary celebrations, seeks to drive the country’s road infrastructure development for the next 50 years and beyond.