Infrastructure dev’t: Government must 'eat humble pie' – Terkper

Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has urged the Akufo-Addo government to “eat humble” over their stands on infrastructure development when the NPP was in opposition.

According to him, government’s focus on infrastructure as was outlined in the 2019 budget Thursday is a vindication of the attention the Mahama government gave infrastructure when it was in power.

The finance minister Ken Ofori Atta disclosed in the budget that government intends embarking on a massive infrastructural development in the ensuing year.

“Mr. Speaker, in 2019, we will invest massively in the development of road and infrastructure, from a variety funding sources and the following projects have been identified to commence in 2019. Mr. Speaker, in addition to the above, in 2019 Government in partnership with the private sector through PPP arrangements will undertake various projects including Accra–Takoradi Highway Dualisation, Accra – Tema Motorway and Accra – Kumasi Highway Dualisation.”

Speaking to Starr News on the promises by government, Mr. Terkper said it is important that the government is now beginning to see the relevance on infrastructural development.

“It is also important that we are coming to see the importance of infrastructure, it was said that the NDC’s infrastructure did not exist, it was even said that we do not eat infrastructure…Like borrowing, I think we have seen a lot of backtracking on a lot of things. Backtracking on the fact that we cannot raise the revenues that we boasted that we could, that we had the mechanism to raise the revenue better than any government in history. So I would say yes maybe it’s time to eat humble pie and frank with the Ghanaian public that the near-utopia promises that were made are not achievable”.