Joe Ghartey, the former minister of railway development, refuted allegations that the ministry paid a Mauritius company $2 million as part of the Accra Sky Train project.
He claimed that the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) was responsible for making the payment.
His comments follow a request for the government to return the $2 million paid for the Accra Sky Train project by the Parliamentary Minority.
Ranking Member of the Roads and Transport Committee, Kwame Agbodza, spoke on behalf of the Minority and demanded that the money be returned to the government’s coffers.
He claimed that the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) board and management’s decision was unlawful because it contravened Article 181 of the Constitution, which mandated that any government entity wishing to enter into a business partnership with a foreign organization must first obtain approval from Parliament.
According to the 2021 Auditor General’s report, the government invested about $2 million in the Sky Train project.
The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) risk management was examined, according to the Auditor General, and it was discovered that the policy is still in the draft stage.
The report stated that the necessary approvals from the Ghanaian Cabinet and Parliament, as well as the feasibility studies that will better inform the project’s economics, are still conclusive.
In 2018, Africa Investor Holdings Limited established Ghana Sky Train Limited in Mauritius as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to develop the Accra Sky Train Project through a concession on design, build, finance, and operate arrangements.
The much-anticipated Accra Sky Train project, a fully automated, highly effective, and incredibly affordable public mass transit system that will use air propulsion technology to drive lightweight, high passenger volume vehicles, was signed by the governments of Ghana and (Ai) Sky Train Consortium of South Africa in 2019.
Joe Ghartey, however, asserted that the minority members are merely disseminating propaganda.
He stated in an interview with Citi FM in Accra that the GIIF is responsible for making the payments and that the Minority can contact the GIIF for the answers it seeks.
“It is the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund that paid the money and the Fund is mandated to make such payments and so if the Minority wants anyone to refund the money, they should tell the Auditor General to ask the Fund to refund the money,” he said.
The COVID-19 outbreak prevented the South African company that was supposed to carry out the project from returning to Ghana, and that is how his engagement with the South Africans on the project ended with no payment discussions.
