The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has emphasised the critical role of the private sector in the development of Ghana's road infrastructure.

According to him, the government's budget is insufficient to meet the country's road financing needs.

Speaking at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Ghana Highways Authority, Dr. Bawumia highlighted the financial constraints faced by successive governments and proposed a shift towards private sector involvement as a sustainable solution.

“It is very clear to me that the private sector is the key because the budget cannot sustain the financing of roads because we just don’t have the resources in the budget.

"Even if we spent all the money of the budget on roads, you will still have a shortfall. And we have so many other demands on this very narrow budget that we have. So the private sector is the key. I think we can all agree on that as we think about innovative financing solutions.”

Dr. Bawumia pointed out that historical trends show successive governments overcommitting in the area of roads, which strains the budget and leads to underfunded projects.

He proposed that the burden of financing should shift from the government to the private sector to ensure sustainable infrastructure development.

“What is clear to me, historically, is that successive governments have tried to do too much in the area of roads and commit a lot which really stretches the budget. That seems to be what is going on and so my view is that we need to shift the burden from government to the private sector,” he explained.

Dr. Bawumia, who is also a presidential candidate for the upcoming general elections, committed to reducing government expenditure by 3% of GDP in favor of the private sector if elected.

He emphasised that this realignment of expenditure would prioritise infrastructure and road development.

“This is why I have committed as a presidential candidate for the upcoming general elections that when I do my next budget, I am reducing government expenditure by 3% of GDP in favor of the private sector.

“We want to realign expenditure from the public sector to the private sector and most of that will be into infrastructure and roads.”