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The Danquah Institute, like
well-meaning citizens and entities in Ghana, is excited by the
announcement made by the Chief Executive Officer of rlg communications,
Mr Roland Agambire, that it plans to build Africa's tallest building,
and ICT infrastructure to create value-adding jobs and put Ghana at the
centre of the global ICT market.
Even more exciting is the fact
that rlg has, by this US$10 billion project, called Hope City, made a
huge leap to what it announced earlier in December last year, that it
was to begin by January this year the construction of a US$100 million
technology park in Ghana. See http://www.ventures-africa.com/2012/12/rlg-to-build-100m-technology-centre-in-ghana/
The
Danquah Institute maintains that government must be proactive in
providing the environment plus other opportunities for the private
sector, Ghanaian private sector, especially, to enable them to grow to
create wealth, jobs and other opportunities for the greater benefit of
society. Also, Ghanaian entrepreneurs, such as Mr Agambire, deserve all
the extra legitimate support that government can offer. We welcome
public-private-partnerships (PPP) as one of the necessary means of
achieving this.
The Hope City project is said to be a PPP
project. The brochure launching Hope City says this US$10 billion
project is being done “in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, as
part of the National Development Policy Framework”.
President
John Mahama reinforced the involvement of the government in this project
when he stated at the sod-cutting ceremony last week, “I want to assure
that government will offer the necessary support to rlg…”
The
details, however, of this partnership is extremely scanty. For what
would be the biggest ever project to be launched in Ghana, matched only
by the miscarried US$10 billion STX deal for the construction of 200,000
housing units in Ghana, the public interest in this PPP must not be
belittled.
We, at the Danquah Institute, wish to find out from
government and indeed, rLg communications, what is the nature of the
commitments, financially and the like, is government making, on behalf
of the Ghanaian people, towards this US$10 billion project. The 2013
budget is surprisingly quiet on the Hope City project, which is due to
start this year and to be completed in 2016.
While we welcome the
fact that this PPP is in support of a Ghanaian-owned enterprise, we
cannot ignore the bad negotiation skills that were employed by
government in previous transactions, notably, that other US$10 billion
project with STX Korea.
It is recalled that the memorandum of
understanding between the Government of Ghana and STX, led and witnessed
by the then Vice President John Mahama, stated that the Korean company
intended to build the houses in furtherance of the “Ghana National
Housing Project”, “providing that STX is granted necessary support and
cooperation by GOG....”
As it turned out, the necessary support
and cooperation meant funding for the project. STX, in spite of all the
pre-contractual hype, was wholly dependent on Ghana Government’s
sovereign guarantee (preferably supported by oil collateral) in its
albeit abortive attempts to raise money for a project, which was to be
mostly owned by the private investor, STX.
Like STX, is
Government of Ghana required to issue a sovereign guarantee for this new
US$10 billion project to build a technology centre? If so, what are the
details?
Like the US$10 billion STX construction project, which
was in line with the Ghana National Housing Project, this US$10 billion
Hope City infrastructural project is, according to rLg, in realization
of the ICT component of the “National Development Policy Framework”.
What are the details of this partnership and the cost of the realization of this project to the public purse?
These
are legitimate issues in light of the record 12.1% fiscal deficit of
2012; the record of this NDC government (from 2009 to date) to saddle
this country with poorly negotiated deals, where little or no serious
value-for-money analysis were done and; the lack of clarity in
government’s commitment to invest boldly and prudently in what most
Ghanaians may consider to be priority areas: tackling the water and
electricity crisis. |
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| Source: Danquah Institute/Ghana |
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