Fact check: Mahama secured funding for Obetsebi-Lamptey interchange

President Nana Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange project and related works on Monday, October 21, 2019. Our Manifesto:

This is what YEN.com.gh believes in the interchange, if completed will ease the traffic congestion within the Obetsebi Lamptey roundabout enclave and improve mobility on the Ring Road.

According to the NPP, the project which will be in two phases will cost a total of $135 million.

The first phase of the project comprises a total flyover length of 340 meters with a width of 18.5meters.

The first phase is estimated to cost $35 million. The second phase comprises a total bridge and ramp length of about 700 meters with width of 18.5m.

It also includes a kilometer of storm drainage expansion works and road works on the ground level amount to $87million.

But what has become the subject of debate following the commissioning of the project for the first phase to begin is who secured the funding for the construction of the Obetsebi-Lamptey Interchange.

The NPP have tried playing politics with the cost of the project, comparing it to the cost of similar projects during former president, John Mahama’s tenure.

The ensuing debate and comparison led YEN.com.gh to dig out the numbers with regards to who really secured the funding for the Obetsebi-Lamptey Interchange project.

Our investigations revealed that in 2016, Ghana’s parliament approved a credit facility agreement totalling $39.2 million for the implementation of the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange project.

This happened when John Dramani Mahama was president of the Republic. The arrangement was between the Ghana government and the he HSBC Bank Plc of the United Kingdom (UK).

Ghana is expected to pay back the facility in 10 years' time with a two year grace period.

So contrary to the confusion and debate on who should take credit for the construction of the interchange, John Mahama’s government should at least be acknowledged.

Addressing the media in Accra on Monday, October 21, the NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the government must ensure the prosecution of the individuals indicted for causing financial loss to the state.