Member of Parliament for Buem Constituency, Kofi Adams, has called the government’s $2.6 million investment in developing a sky railway in Accra a swindle.
According to Mr Adams, the project’s contracting company lacks a license, and there is no feasibility report for the deal.
He feels that such a disastrous contract, along with many others under the Akufo-Addo administration, is to blame for the current economic crisis, rather than the Russia-Ukraine war or the covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s one of the scams. It’s a scam because there has not been any feasibility study, there’s nothing, the company has no license, we don’t know it from anywhere and you just give away $2 million dollars and nothing has happened,” he told the media.
He further said that the project is a sham because of inconsistencies in information provided by authorities.
“The current Minister for Railway Development is saying that we can’t have any sky train now. The CEO is saying it’s a project that is still alive. Who’s telling us the truth?” he quizzed.
In 2019, an agreement for a 194 km train track above ground, transporting nearly 400,000 passengers annually across five routes in Greater Accra, was signed at the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg.
However, due to its high cost, the Minister of Railway Development, John Peter Amewu, reveals the project’s delay, citing other pressing needs in the country.
“I don’t see a sky train being done in the next three to four years, let’s be very frank to ourselves.”
“A kilometre of a railway line is about four to five times the cost of building concrete infrastructure in terms of building an asphaltic road,” Mr Amewu said.
NDC MPs condemn government’s payment of US$2 million to African Investor Holding Limited, located in Mauritius, for a train project that seems unlikely to proceed. They argue that the deal lacked parliamentary approval.
The Caucus urges the government to ensure a refund for the payment made to the company, which, according to the Minister, was made even before the project’s feasibility study had commenced.
“What was the reason for the government to act in a way to give out two million dollars? Who actually took the decision to pay this entity in Mauritius?
“Who authorised the payment of the two million dollars in terms of the feasibility studies and which normal decision maker pays out two million dollars as feasibility; before as they put it to determine whether the project is bankable?” the NDC MP for Adaklu Constituency, Kwame Governs Agbodza, said.