Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has launched an audacious initiative that he believes, if elected as president of Ghana, will ensure that the infrastructure needs of the country are met.
In the view of Dr. Bawumia, the key to addressing the country’s teething infrastructure challenges lies in the dedication of a percentage of the national revenue to the sector.
A Bawumia-led government, he says, will reduce government expenditure by 3%, and that amount will go into the provision of infrastructure projects across the country to address the challenges.
“As a candidate, when I do my next budget, I am reducing government expenditure by 3 percent of GDP in favor of the private sector.”
“This will help to realign expenditure from the public sector to the private sector. Three percent of GDP is not small; you are talking about thirty billion Ghana cedis, and most of that will go into infrastructure and roads,” he promised.
“So that you want the financing to be by the private sector, and that therefore reduces the burden on government and creates fiscal space at the same time,” he explained.
“So, we will be looking at these approaches. Public-private partnership offers a viable solution to bridge the financing gap by fostering collaboration between the public sector and private investors. We can unlock new funding streams and leverage expertise in project implementation.”
Dr. Bawumia made this remark during a meeting with stakeholders in the road construction sector and promised to work effectively with the private sector to ensure the progress of the industry.
EK