The minority caucus in parliament says the Sinohydro road deal between Ghana and China is a total failure.

According to the ranking member on the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, Governs Agbogza, the absence of contractors at various sites across the country bears testimony to the fact that the project is a fiasco.

He made this known during the 2021 budget debate on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

Mr Agbodza also called on the government to be innovative in raising revenue to fund such projects.

“…nothing new is in this, many of the targets have been missed and Sinohydro is a total failure because the contractors haven’t turned up at many of the sites. Accra Innercity roads after two years are still mobilizing and same with Kumasi Innercity after two years, also mobilizing when the contract is supposed to end in 2020 December. It is a total failure.”

During the 2021 budget presentation, Ghanaians were assured by government that roads under Sinohydro agreement will be completed in 2021.

The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and caretaker Minister for Finance, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said most of the roads under phase one are at various stages of completion.

“Mr. Speaker, His Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the presentation of the State of the Nation’s address declared 2021 as the second year of roads.”

“Mr. Speaker, with this declaration we will continue the prioritization of road construction. The government will continue to pursue the following ongoing projects that are at various stages of completion under the Sinohydro master facility.”

About the Sinohydro agreement

The multi-billion-dollar Ghana’s deal with China’s Sinohydro has been praised internationally as a model that the rest of Africa should adapt, to lessen the financial woes of their economies.

The deal is considered as a game-changing deal, sealed by the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in 2018 with the Chinese State-owned Sinohydro Company. This a multi-billion-dollar barter deal of refined Ghanaian bauxite, a mineral essential to aluminium production, in place of Chinese construction of infrastructure in the country.

The deal has been strikingly elaborated as a complete departure from direct foreign currency loan from China, in exchange for infrastructure, which many African Governments easily adopt to fund their development projects at the expense of sound fiscal management of their economies.

Unlike the US$2 billion Ghana-Sinohydro arrangement which is not a direct foreign currency loan, but a direct barter with refined bauxite exchanged for its equivalent of infrastructure - with no cash exchanging hands.