The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) says no funds meant for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway  project have been expended so far, paid to any contractor or spent on the  construction works. 

It said so far, the allocated funds of GH¢11 billion (about $1 billion) remained intact in the dedicated Bank of Ghana account pending project execution.

It further stated that the ongoing right-of-way clearing by the Ghana Armed Forces was a separate preparatory activity not being  financed from the specific dedicated funds.

In a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Cephas N. Dosoo, and released in Accra yesterday, the CAGD said it had found it appropriate to respond to speculations that almost GH¢11 billion had been expended on the project even though the main construction works were yet to commence.

Instead, it said, the accounting treatment applied to the project was fully consistent with the country’s public financial management framework.

It said the remedy was also in conformity with established government accounting standards.

The Accra-Kumasi Expressway project is estimated to cost about $4 billion, with completion set for 2028.

At a recent business forum organised by Ishmael Yamson and Associates, the Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, stated that he had secured $1 billion of the nearly $4 billion required to complete the project.

The funding so far secured for the project comprises $500 million from uncapping of oil revenues in order that they could now be channelled directly into the project, and another $500 million from mineral royalties.

Context

The statement described the Accra-Kumasi Expressway as one of government’s flagship infrastructure projects. 

“To avoid the delays, funding challenges and cost overruns that have affected similar projects in the past, government — acting through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) — established the Accra-Kumasi Expressway Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to implement the project.

The company is classified as a state-owned enterprise (SOE) for funding and accounting purposes,” it said.

It explained that following Parliament's approval of the concession, the government earmarked proceeds from the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) and mineral royalties in the 2025 Budget to finance the project.

The approved funds, according to the statement, were transferred from the Consolidated Fund into a dedicated Bank of Ghana account.

“It is, therefore, incorrect to conclude that because the transfer appears as expenditure in the accounts of central government, the funds have already been spent on the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway,” the statement said.

The CAGD clarified that government operated at three levels, namely central government (comprising ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), local government (comprising metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), and government business entities, which also comprised SOEs, under which the Accra-Kumasi Expressway Limited fell.

Under government accounting rules, the statement said, every transfer of money from the central government (the Consolidated Fund) to another government entity outside the central government accounting group (MDAs) is recorded as grant expenditure in the books of the central government and as grant revenue in the books of the receiving entity.

It said that was a standard accounting treatment and did not mean the receiving entity had spent the funds.

The same principle, the statement indicated, applied to transfers made to institutions such as the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The CAGD, therefore, clarified that the speculation was based on a misunderstanding of government accounting procedures and pointed out that the ongoing right-of-way clearing by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) was a separate preparatory activity and was not being financed from these funds.