Professor Emeritus Kwasi Kwarfo Adarkwa, former Vice-Chancellor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), says the Government needs to inject more capital into infrastructure development to build a resilient economy to attract and retain investments.

In the interest of the greater good, planning should be at the vanguard of delivering long-term strategic, all-encompassing and sustainable answers to the country’s economic dilemma, he said.

“Planning must become an integral part of any recovery strategy rather than an afterthought that merely serves as a diversion or a hindrance,” Prof. Adarkwah cautioned.

He made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of the 51st Annual General Conference and Meeting of the Ghana Institute of Planners (GIP) in Cape Coast, on Thursday.

The two-day meeting is on the theme: “The Role of Strategic Infrastructure in Building a Robust Economy.”

Prof Adarkwa, who was the Special Guest, charged the Government to execute the national development framework to raise productivity and employment for development.

He said modern infrastructure was necessary due to the country’s prime location for investment in West Africa, adding that; “a nation lacking in modern infrastructure was weak and unable to sustain rapid economic growth and development that satisfied the needs of its populace.”

“In Ghana, the value added by infrastructure is about 6.8 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is seriously affecting efficiency and competitiveness of the business world as a good infrastructure system is necessary to reduce the cost of energy, transportation, and waste.”

However, the medium-to-long term infrastructural planning was essential to achieving quality comparable to the best in developed nations and other African nations and to support Ghana’s growing population, Prof Adarkwa said.

He cited the construction of the Boankra Inland Port as key to easing congestion at the ports, as well as the Sino-Hydo Road projects in many parts of the country.

Although Ghana’s infrastructure lags compared to other African countries like Algeria and Gabon, it was not behind in terms of per capita income.

The former VC said Ghana had implemented a number of infrastructure development schemes, over the years, that saw monumental projects like the Tema Motorway, Tema Harbour, Akosombo Dam, Pwalugu Tomato Factory, State Housing and Akosombo Textiles and is could do more with proper planning.

Mr Mohammed Damba, President of GIP, bemoaned the worsening economic challenges that were crippling many businesses.

He said the hyper-inflation and depreciation of the currency had eroded living standards, amid concerns of rising poverty in Ghana over the coming years.

Under this circumstance, he underscored the importance of planners in shaping development that promoted and stimulated economic growth and urged members to live above reproach.

“Development plans are often based on assumptions that need to hold with limited margin of error or miss.”

“Under these circumstances, all such assumptions in relation to our economic development trajectory seems to be shifting, and we need to urgently review the national as well as sector and district medium term plans recently prepared, to feed into the ongoing adjustments,” he advised.

Osabarima Kwasi Atta II, Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area, who chaired the function, urged all planners to adapt to technologically advanced strategies in their planning to achieve the desired outcomes.

The Government is pursuing an Economic Enclave Project to provide support for the cultivation of up to 110,000 acres of land in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Savannah and Oti Regions. 

The initiative, under the Ghana CARES Programme, seeks to expand the production in rice, tomato, maize, vegetables and poultry. 

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, who disclosed this in the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government on Thursday, said the initiative was being led and coordinated by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in collaboration with other Government institutions. 

The institutions are: the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ministry of Energy, Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) under the Ministry of Defence, the National Entrepreneurial and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and the National Service Secretariat (NSS). 

The Ghana CARES Programme is a GH¢100 billion development initiative designed by the Government to mitigate the economic challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. 

It is meant to stabilise, revitalise and transform the country’s economy to create jobs and prosperity for the citizenry over a three-year period, with focus on commercial Farming, light manufacturing, fast-track digitisation, housing and construction. 

Mr. Ofori-Atta indicated that the Economic Enclave Project would engage interested private sector actors to expand agricultural production and processing in the Asutuare-Tsopoli Economic Enclave area based on a partnership framework. 

The same approach will be adopted for the lands secured in the Ashanti, Central, Savannah and Oti Regions. 

A cross section of formal and informal sector workers in Techiman, Techiman South Municipality of Bono East Region have appealed to the government to raise the daily minimum wage beyond the GhC14.88 from the current GhC13.53.

According to them, the increment which is due to take effect from January 2023 is not realistic because of the sharp increases in prices of goods and services.

Speaking in a random public interview with the Ghana News Agency in reaction to the government’s recent announcement about the wages increment on Friday, several of them who spoke on condition of anonymity argued that “the increment did not translate well to meet the current inflationary figures of the country..”

Mr. Solomon Awini, a general merchant at the Techiman Central Market bemoaned that there had been poor patronage of goods nowadays and attributed the situation to the “no-money syndrome” by workers.

Mr. Awini therefore pleaded with government to consider the proposed 60  per cent increment on the 2022 base pay by organised labour such as the teacher unions and the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association to “cushion workers a bit”.

Other interviewees including civil servants, traders and transport operators told the GNA that the   increment would not make any impact on the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian, saying the way to improve their socio-economic lives “is for government to continue to reduce the prices of petroleum products” for reduction of transport fares.