Ghana is set to receive US $649m as the first tranche of the US $2bn Sinohydro Infrastructure for Bauxite Transaction from China.
In the Bauxite Barter Arrangement, Ghana has to settle their side of the deal in 15 years and will, in turn, get US $2bn to build roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information said that the US $2bn can be accessed between now and 2020.
US $649m would fund projects such as 100 km of Kumasi Inner City roads, Takoradi PTC Roundabout Dual Carriageway, 84-kilometre Accra Inner City roads, Tamale-Interchange and the Sunyani Inner City roads.
The deal between Ghana and Sinohydro of China was signed in 2017 and included an exchange between refined bauxite for infrastructure. Nkrumah added that 30% of local content was reserved for Ghanaians.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana’s Vice President earlier said that in the US $2bn deal, half of the money would build roads and bridges while the other half of the money would construct schools, hospitals and facilities country wide. The Information Minister hoped that by the end of the year, the infrastructure construction would have begun.
Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminum Development Corporation (GIBADC) was established to deal with challenges such as ecological issues brought by bauxite exploitation. Nkrumah added that they were in the process of appointing GIBADC board members and officials.
At the end of the year, GIBADC will ensure that the processing and refining of bauxite would be signed at the JV agreements between the company and the other mining developers. The Environmental Protection Agency would also be observing whether environmental standards were met.
After processing the raw bauxite into raw products with a higher value, the government of Ghana will use the money to pay the Chinese company.
