Ghana’s public infrastructure is at the height of becoming a public risk if adequate attention is not paid to sustainable engineering and maintenance practices.

It comes as the country scored a D3 in the recent past Ghana Infrastructure Report Card by the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE).

Launching the 2022/2023 Score Card, Chairman of the Research Committee, Engineer Magnus Quarshie, projected a bleak regime of poverty if quality infrastructure is not adopted.

He explained that the ‘Panama Canal’ was built 108 years ago and is still relevant and serving the purpose over all these years.

He opined that while it took leadership to achieve this, sustainable engineering cannot be ruled out.

The theme for the 2022/23 Infrastructure Report Score Card is “Building for Ever, Building to last”.

Ing. Magnus, who is a Past President of the GhIE (2014) added that the quality and quantity of any country’s infrastructure is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of their access to engineering training and their professionals.

He concluded that quality, relevance, efficiency and sustainability of the country’s infrastructure are key drivers of any developed economy.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director of GhIE, Ing. David Nyante, expressed the institution’s delight to launch the 2022/23 Ghana Infrastructure Report Score Card, saying, a country which does not take inventory of its key infrastructure is impoverished with unemployment, lack of development and a shortage of basic social amenities.

He therefore called on development partners to support this good cause to make this infrastructure audit a biannual affair.

He recalled that the last infrastructure report card was done in 2016 for Energy, Transportation and Water infrastructure. These infrastructure were rated D3, which meant poor, and therefore those infrastructure needed quite a lot of intervention.

The Co-chair and Coordinator of the committee, Dr. Michael Ankamah Bekoe, outlined the key infrastructure that are going to be audited for this year’s Infrastructure Report Score Card to cover: Water and Sanitation, Education (Basic and Secondary), Health (Hospitals, Clinics & CHPS), Transportation (Roads, Bridges & Airports) and Telecommunication.

Officially launching the 2022/23 Ghana Infrastructure Report Score Card, the President of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, Ing. Rev. Prof. Charles Anum Adams, reiterated that no country will develop if it fails to periodically audit its key infrastructure and maintain them as the population and resettlement of the people increase. Quality infrastructure has the propensity of eradicating poverty.

He therefore called on development partners to support this effort.

He concluded that the Ghana Institution of Engineering is proud and poised to contribute to the national discourse on infrastructure in a structured way and to engage the public in a much simpler way to appreciate the level of our infrastructure.

The 6-member committee responsible for undertaking this audit for the 2022/23 Ghana Infrastructure Report Score Card has Ing. Magnus Lincoln Quashie as Chairman, Ing Dr. Michael Ankamah Bekoe – Co-Chair/Coordinator, Ing Adjei Boateng – Member, Ing Samuel Boamah – Member, Ing Samuel Asare – Member and Ing Asante Antwi Fiifi – Member.