Economist Urges Government to Shift Major Road Financing to PPPs, Warns of 'Negative-Sum Game'

A leading Ghanaian economist has called on the government to abandon its reliance on tax revenue for financing major road projects, arguing that well-structured Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) could free up billions of cedis for schools, hospitals, and other social infrastructure desperately needed across the country's 16 regions.

Professor Godfred Bokpin of the University of Ghana Business School made the case on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Friday, November 13, 2026, during a discussion on the government's recently presented 2027 Budget Statement.

'Sound Public Finance Theory'

At the heart of Prof. Bokpin's argument is a simple principle: governments should not commit scarce public resources to infrastructure that can pay for itself. "When the country has a huge deficit in the provision of public goods across the 16 regions, and you don't have the fiscal space, sound public finance theory tells us that the economic infrastructure that can pay for itself, that can get self-liquidated private investment and generate excludable, bankable cash flows, should not be loaded on the national budget," he said.

He identified the Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Takoradi, and Accra-Aflao corridors as prime candidates for PPP arrangements, citing their traffic volumes and economic significance as sufficient to attract private capital. The government's own 2027 Budget allocated GHS 11.3 billion to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, including GHS 7.8 billion for capital expenditure and GHS 3.5 billion for the Road Maintenance Trust Fund .

The Cost of Road Crashes

Prof. Bokpin underscored the economic imperative of improving major roads, noting that road crashes cost Ghana over $4 billion annually. Data from the National Road Safety Authority supports concerns about road safety, with 2,949 deaths recorded in 2025—an 18.2 percent increase over the previous year—and crashes costing the nation an estimated 3 to 5 percent of GDP . "Road crashes alone impose a significant economic burden, costing Ghana over $4 billion annually," he stressed, arguing that safer, more efficient roads would deliver savings while boosting productivity.

Terminal 3 as a PPP Success Story

Acknowledging that some PPP projects in Ghana have underperformed, Prof. Bokpin pointed to Terminal 3 at Kotoka International Airport as evidence that the model can work when properly structured. The $275 million facility, completed in 2018, is widely regarded as a benchmark for private participation in Ghanaian infrastructure . "It's about the structure, the framework that we put in place," he said. "If the private sector is doing it, the cost may be lower than the public sector doing it. And the longevity can be guaranteed, and the maintenance cost will be lower."

The GIIF, which is slated to be merged into a new sovereign wealth fund alongside the Minerals Income Investment Fund, was a key investor in Terminal 3, leveraging public capital to attract substantial private co-investment .

Accra-Kumasi Expressway: A Test Case

The Accra-Kumasi corridor is already moving toward a PPP model. In September 2026, Accra-Kumasi Expressway Limited (AKEL), a special purpose vehicle established under the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), issued a prequalification invitation for the development, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of a 199.383-kilometer expressway under a PPP arrangement . The project, estimated at approximately $4 billion, has also drawn calls from other prominent figures, including former Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen, for greater private-sector financing rather than state funding .

A Warning Against 'Negative-Sum' Development

Prof. Bokpin's most pointed warning concerned the broader consequences of concentrating public spending on a few high-profile projects. "If you do that analysis, you will realise that four years to come, you celebrate an Accra expressway as a big project, but the denial and the sacrifice in all other areas will be such that, if you put everything together, if you are not careful, you may end up with a negative-sum game," he said.

He linked Ghana's chronic traffic congestion to spatially uneven development, estimating that ensuring inclusive development across districts and regions could eliminate close to 20 percent of urban traffic by reducing the need for long commutes to access schools, hospitals, and other services.

Government's Infrastructure Push

The government's 2027 Budget, dubbed "The New Economy," allocates GHS 100.4 billion for capital expenditure, representing 5.6 percent of GDP, with a separate GHS 28 billion earmarked for the Big Push infrastructure programme . The Finance Minister has framed these investments as essential to addressing decades of infrastructure neglect. Prof. Bokpin's intervention suggests that the debate over how to finance that infrastructure—and at what opportunity cost—is far from settled.