Let The Private Sector Wholely-Fund The Building, Expansion and Modernisation Of Ghana's Infrastructure

As a patriot who loves his country passionately, it always feels good when ideas that one has tried to bring to the attention of our leaders for years, without success, are suddenly adopted as government policy - because far more important people than one is have also come up with the selfsame idea.

The nation owes members of the Charismatic Bishops' Council a huge debt of gratitude  - for suggesting to Vice President Alhaji Mahammadu Bawumia that it would benefit the nation more, if concrete motorways were built in Ghana instead of using asphalt to build them.

Vice President Bawumia agreed with them and seemed pretty chuffed by  the idea - because he shared their view that in  the long-run building concrete motorways was indeed better value for money.

This blog will go a step further and suggest that  bids from private-sector companies - all of which should have Ghanaian partners - should be invited from around the world to bid to build, own, run and maintain such tolled concrete motorways for 35 years with their own funds in exchange for not paying any taxes on their profits during that period.

Incidentally, if Acrete - the new invention from Arizona University that is stronger than concrete and far less expensive - is utilised for such projects, building those new concrete roads will probably be far better value for money for our nation than using either asphalt or conventional concrete.

And we could also be creative and innovative by building plastic roads for intra-regional  highways and minor roads in both rural and urban areas in all 10 regions of Ghana - and make that the sole preserve of wholely-owned Ghanaian companies.

Plastic roads last three times longer than conventional asphalt  roads: and remain pothole-free throughout their lifespan; bear heavier loads; and are not washed away by flash floods because the melted plastic waste mixed with bitumen to build them means they are impermeable to water.
 
Governments of the day ought to shift the burden of funding the building and expansion of our road/rail networks - and other road  infrastructure facilities such as bridges - from hapless Ghanaian taxpayers to private-sector entities happy to do so in exchange for 35-year tax-free-profits-agreements as their incentive.  Ghanaians will then regularly travel on well-built, well-designed and well-maintained roads nationwide. Food for thought.