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Minister for Public Enterprises and MP for Effia Constituency, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe, on Friday, 17th March 2023 paid a working visit to the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), to interact with Management on some challenges that the Authority faces and discuss how best his office could assist in resolving them.

From left, Ag. Dy. Chief Exec. (Mtce)-Ing. Lawrence Lamptey, Ag. Dy. Chief Exec. (Admin)- Ing. Frederick Aduagyei, Ag. Chief Executive- GHA - Ing. Christian Nti, Minister of Public Enterprises - Hon.Joseph Cudjoe, Chief Director to the Minister, Ms. Christina Edmond and Ag. Dy. Chief Exec. (Devt.)-Ing. Collins Donkor.

Madam Christina Edmond, the Chief Director at the Public Enterprises secretariat, in her opening remarks said, “Minister’s visit today is part of his program in the delivery of his mandate as the Minister of Public Enterprises. This is the first time a Minister has been appointed by the President to focus on ensuring the performance of Public Enterprises and so as part of that mandate, he is visiting the entities to share the vision of the president and his vision for the Enterprises.”

Ms. Christina Edmond, Chief Director at Public Enterprises Secretariat. and policy advisor to the Minister, Mr. Sam Aning.

Director of Finance, Mr. Eric Ofori Amanfo. Esq, during his presentation on behalf of GHA, mentioned that one major challenge facing the Authority was the capping of internally generated funds (IGF) which had affected income levels. He explained that the main sources of the IGF were laboratory fees, the sale of tender documents, permit fees for mounting billboards, and the collection of Right of Way (RoW) fees which had not been fully activated, hence not much was being realized.  

He added that there was a need to activate the law on payment of access fees, especially by the oil marketing companies, who were famous for encroaching on the RoW. He enumerated other challenges facing the Authority which included:

1. Low salaries
2. Insufficient budget allocation
3. Delays in payment of contractors,
4. Litigations
5. Difficulties in obtaining financial clearance for staff replacement.

Addressing the challenges, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe, who doubles as a member of Ghana’s Economic Management team, rehashed the country's current economic challenges and added that not much could be done this year, specifically with the issue of insufficient budget allocation. He, however, advised Management to work on expanding the sources of the IGF and also improve revenue collection to increase productivity and run efficiently.

Hon. Joseph Cudjoe, Minister for Public Enterprises addressing the challenges

Ing. Christian Nti, Ag. Chief Executive of the GHA, on his part, assured the Minister that work was being done to resolve some of the challenges. With regards to increasing the IGF, Ing. Nti solicited the Minister’s support to engage the main stakeholders, i.e., oil marketing companies, gas filling stations, malls, etc. that have encroached on the RoW.

He added that plans were underway to make the Authority self-sufficient and wean itself off government subventions. “IGF will be a supplementary funding source but our core business is the supervision of roads. The IGF is used for overhead costs, paying Electricity bills, and some allowances. But in terms of the payment of the staff, the sure revenue source will be through the projects that we are managing whether donor-funded or GOG funded. Some portion of that project cost should be given upfront to the organisation to pay their staff, to enable us to supervise the projects”.

The Ag. Head of the Performance and Monitoring unit of State Interests and Government Authority (SIGA), Eric Adjabeng, noted that the Authority has improved in the area of compliance and commended Management for the early submission of GHA’s  2022 management accounts.

Hon. Joseph Cudjoe was accompanied by his Chief Director, Ms. Christina Edmond, the Policy Advisor to the Minister, Mr. Sam Aning, Mr. Eric Adjabeng from SIGA, and four other officers from his office.