Ghana to access US$649 million of Sinohydro infrastructure in exchange of bauxite transaction

Ghana can now access US$ 649 million as the first tranche of the 2 billion dollar Sinohydro infrastructure. In exchange, the country will have to deliver bauxite to China. Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, announced the news while addressing journalists at the bi-weekly media briefing in Accra on Wednesday, November 21.

He said two sets of contracts had been laid before Parliament namely, the Engineering Procurement Construction contract (EPC) and Deferred Payment Agreements (DPA). He also said the Finance Committee of Parliament would meet on the Agreements and present report to the plenary by the end of the month to pave way for construction work to begin.

The construction work on infrastructure would include 84-kilometre Accra Inner City roads, 100-km Kumasi Inner City roads, Tamale-Interchange, Takoradi PTC Roundabout Dual Carriageway and the Sunyani Inner City roads. The rest are the Adenta-Dodowa-Dual-Carriageway, Western Region and Cape Coast Inner City Roads, the upgrading of selected feeder roads in the Ashanti and Western regions, the rehabilitation of the 38-km Oda-Ofoase Abirem Road and the construction of 66.4-km Hohoe-Jasikan-Dodo Pepesu Road.

The construction works would expectedly begin by the end of the year, said the Minister further.

Ghana and Sinohydro of China had signed the Master Project Support Agreement during Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s visit to the the giant Asian country with the world’s second largest economy.

Ghana has 15 years to settle her side of the deal through a Bauxite Barter Agreement, including a three-year moratorium.

Responding to measures put in place to safeguard the environment during the extraction of bauxite, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said the country had established a company called the Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminum Development Corporation (GIBADC), which was backed by law to resolve any teething challenges, including ecological issues posed by the exploitation of bauxite.