Keypoints:
- Mahama says about $2bn is now set aside
- Government insists no borrowing is involved
- Expressway could create more than 30,000 jobs
GHANA has set aside about $2bn to push ahead with the Accra–Kumasi Expressway without new borrowing, President John Dramani Mahama said on Monday, putting domestic financing at the heart of one of the country’s most significant planned infrastructure projects.
The announcement gives the flagship road a significance beyond cutting travel times between Ghana’s two largest cities. Coming after a sovereign debt crisis and years of restructuring, the project is emerging as a test of whether Ghana can resume large-scale infrastructure investment while avoiding another heavy accumulation of public debt.
$2bn set aside without borrowing
Speaking at Kwaso near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region during the formal handover of the expressway’s cleared right-of-way, Mahama said about $2bn had now been set aside in a special Bank of Ghana account.
He described the funds as taxpayers’ money and stressed that the government had not borrowed to raise them.
‘We have not gone to borrow money from anywhere,’ Mahama said.
Mahama’s $2bn figure is higher than the $1.7bn Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson told Parliament had been deposited into the dedicated Accra–Kumasi Expressway account as of July 22.
Forson said at the time that the money had been ring-fenced and could only be used after the main construction contract was awarded.
He subsequently said all the financing required for the project would be secured before the end of 2026, adding that ‘not a single pesewa’ would be borrowed.
That financing strategy carries particular weight after Ghana completed its $3bn IMF-supported programme in July, ending the financing phase of a programme introduced during the country’s severe debt and economic crisis.
Military clears expressway corridor
Mahama’s address marked the completion of a major preparatory phase of the project.
Engineers from the Ghana Armed Forces’ 48 Engineer Regiment cleared 175.6km of the right-of-way in 19 weeks, completing an assignment originally scheduled to take 20 weeks.
The work involved cutting through difficult terrain along the planned route to prepare the corridor for eventual construction.
Mahama went further than simply praising the military engineers. He directed that the 48 Engineer Regiment should become a major subcontractor when construction begins, giving the Armed Forces a continuing role in the project.
The President also announced national recognition for the regiment for its work on the corridor.
The government’s plans describe the wider Accra–Kumasi Expressway as a 198.7km transport corridor, reducing the existing journey distance of roughly 250km by more than 50km.
Two-hour Accra-Kumasi journey
Mahama said the six-lane expressway would be designed for speeds of up to 120km per hour and could bring travel time between Accra and Kumasi down to about two hours.
Journeys between the two cities can currently take five or six hours and considerably longer during heavy congestion.
The 2026 Budget says the project is expected to cut transport costs by nearly 40 percent, although that remains a government projection that will depend on the road’s eventual operation and tolling structure.
Plans include major interchanges, bridges, electronic tolling, intelligent transport systems, emergency medical facilities, fire stations, rest areas, fuel stations and electric-vehicle charging facilities.
The government also projects that construction could create more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, including employment in construction, quarrying, cement production, transport and related services.
Ghana’s post-crisis fiscal test
The bigger story is how Ghana intends to pay for it.
The country’s economic recovery has increasingly become a test of delivery: whether stronger fiscal indicators can translate into infrastructure, jobs and public services without recreating the imbalances that contributed to the debt crisis.
Ghana suspended payments on much of its external debt in 2022 and subsequently restructured domestic obligations, Eurobonds and official creditor debt under an IMF-supported recovery programme.
More recently, the government has sought to demonstrate renewed fiscal credibility, including through an early $700m Eurobond payment aimed at strengthening confidence in Ghana’s post-restructuring repayment record.
Against that background, Mahama’s insistence that the Accra–Kumasi Expressway will proceed without new borrowing turns the road into a wider economic test.
Delivery will decide the claim
The government’s financing model will ultimately be judged by execution.
Setting aside billions of dollars before major construction begins could reduce one of the persistent risks facing Ghanaian public works: projects slowing because contractors are not paid against certified work.
Mahama said contractors working on the expressway should be paid promptly once their certificates have been verified.
But important questions will remain as procurement and construction advance, including the eventual total project cost, compensation for affected communities, cost control and whether the financing remains entirely domestic through completion.
The distinction between the $2bn Mahama now says has been set aside and the project’s final financing requirement will also need to remain clear.
For Ghana, the stakes extend well beyond a faster road between Accra and Kumasi.
If the government can complete a project of this scale without returning to heavy borrowing, the expressway could become an important demonstration of how the country intends to finance development after its debt crisis.
If costs escalate or the funding structure changes, however, that claim will face much greater scrutiny.
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