Social activist Stanley Abopam says he was “a little” disappointed with President John Dramani Mahama’s announcement that the planned Upper East Regional Airport will be constructed under a public/private partnership arrangement.
For such a significant project and pressing need of the region, the government should have been making funding arrangements from its coffers or through a credit facility to ensure its seamless realization, he argued.
The PPP arrangement for the construction of the airport, as announced by the President, puts the feasibility of the project in doubt, he opined.
“I was a little disappointed. A little disappointed in the sense that this is the first time in history of this country we may possibly be looking for partnership with a private investor for the development of an airport. To the extend that it has not been done before, it raises questions and valid questions for that matter over the doability or otherwise of such an arrangement,” he stated.
“The fact that the construction of an airport in the Upper East Region was that very necessity and an urgent one for that matter, government would have, just like, they did the last time when he was President of the republic, given instructions or been looking for funding somewhere to immediately invest into it.”
Abopam is, however, “cautiously” optimistic that the project will come to fruition.
“But be as it may, I am still quite optimistic though cautiously that things will be better.”
During his recent visit to the region, President Mahama told residents at a rally held at Jubilee Park in Bolgatanga that he had directed the Ghana Airport Company management to source funding for the project, indicating that it will be undertaken a PPP module.
But Speaking in an interview on State of Our Nation on Dreamz FM, Abopam argued that a PPP arrangement is not a reliable source of funding for such a significant project.
