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Vice President’s spokesman Gideon Boako called the opposition’s criticism of the $ 2 billion Sinohydro deal by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) propaganda.
According to him, these criticisms, as undeserved as they are, would make the project a testimony after its realization.
“I can appreciate the insistent criticism of Sammy Gyamfi and our NDC colleagues against Sinohydro and the claim that this is going to be impossible. The propaganda of his impossibility is what will make his execution a testimony, ”he said on JoyNews‘Press kit Saturday.
Earlier in the show, NDC communications manager Sammy Gyamfi described the Sinohydro deal, introduced to address Ghana’s road infrastructure problems, as a monumental failure.
“Some of us are not surprised that the much-vaunted Sinohydro deal has turned out to be a total fiasco. This turned out to be so because in the first place it was just propaganda, calculated to support the image of the vice president, to give the impression that he was doing something extraordinary as a vice president. president when this was not the case, ”said Sammy Gyamfi. noted.
But in response, Dr Gideon Boako said the comments stemmed from a misunderstanding of the entire $ 2 billion Sinohydro deal between the Ghanaian government and Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited.
He revealed to host Samson Lardy Anyenini that four out of a total of 10 batches in the first phase have already started. This comes a year after the government signed the TPRs in 2018.
“On September 1, 2018, we signed the EPC and deferred payment with Sinohydro. After signing this, the start of work on Lots 3, 7, 8 and 10 started on December 28, 2019. Look at the trajectory of time. The start of the lots started from December 2019. You should understand it from this point.
Lot 3 – Construction of the Tamale interchange;
Lot 7 – Road construction in Prestea Township and downtown Cape Coast. A total of 32 kilometers of roads will be built in Cape Coast and Prestea. In Cape Coast, 22 kilometers of downtown roads will be constructed, while Prestea Township will see 10 kilometers of roads constructed;
Lot 8 – Improvement of some feeder roads in the Ashanti and West regions. Sixty-eight kilometers of feeder roads in the Ashanti and North West regions will be rehabilitated. The roads that will be rehabilitated are mainly in communities that have bauxite deposits;
Lot 10 – Construction of the Hohoe-Jasikan-Dodo Pepesu road of the eastern corridor. This will involve the construction of the 66 kilometer section of the eastern corridor road between Hohoe and Jasikan and Dodo Pepesu.
According to Dr Gideon Boako, the work is not at a standstill and these Phase 1 projects must be completed within three years.
“In the deferred payment agreement, the government can only make payments to Sinohydro three years after the execution of the project,” explained Dr Boako.
Background
In its quest to bridge the country’s severe infrastructure gap, the government entered into a $ 2 billion Project Support Framework Agreement (MPSA) with Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited in September 2018.
As part of the deal, Sinohydro, a hydropower engineering and construction company, finances and executes construction of infrastructure projects across Ghana in exchange for bauxite.
The Atiwa forest was then designated as a site to be exploited by the Chinese company for 15 years.
Located in the south-eastern part of the country, Atiwa Forest is an area of 26,000 hectares rich in bauxite and other deposits of mineral resources such as manganese and iron.
According to the US Geological Department, the Atiwa Forest holds more than 960 million metric tons of bauxite reserves valued at over $ 500 billion.
It was against this backdrop of sealed wealth that the government was able to secure what it touted as an unprecedented barter deal to meet Ghana’s infrastructure needs.
In seeking parliamentary authorization in July 2018, the Akufo-Addo administration argued that the 16 regions will experience remarkable infrastructural growth thanks to the Sinohydro deal.
Projects include hospitals, extension of electricity to rural communities, construction of courts and residential buildings for the judiciary, landfills and industrial parks.
Broken down into phases, the first phase of the project costs $ 646.6 million and begins with the Tamale interchange project.
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