The Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has thrown more light on the much-talked about $2 billion bauxite for infrastructure agreement the government has entered with Sinohydro Corporation of China.
The arrangement, described by Dr Bawumia as “grand and out of the box plan”, will leverage some of Ghana’s bauxite reserves for massive infrastructure development like roads, bridges, hospitals etc., and some critics have claimed the Akufo-Addo government has traded off Ghana’s bauxite reserve for a meagre $2 billion dollars to China.
However, speaking at the 2018 Ghana Economic Forum in Accra on Wednesday, Vice President Bawumia dismissed this claim, and explained the arrangement in detail.
“What this arrangement does basically, is to say that we agree with Sinohydro that they provide us with our choice of infrastructure worth $2 billion. The Sinohydro Corporation which is going to provide the infrastructure is not the company that is going to mine the bauxite and they are not taking our raw bauxite. In other words, Sinohydro is not a mining company,” Vice President Bawumia stressed.
“Rather, government in our plans has set up a holding company backed by an Act of Parliament called the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Authority that will soon enter into a joint venture agreement with potential mining companies, aluminum refiners and off-takers to establish the bauxite mines and refinery,” the Vice President explained.
“After mining and refining, Government of Ghana will then use her share of the refined bauxite to pay-off whatever cost of the infrastructure provided by the Sinohydro Corporation. This will only happen after a period of three years and on condition that Sinohydro has completed the infrastructure projects that the people of Ghana has asked them to do.”
Vice President Bawumia further explained that Sinohydro will be providing the infrastructure, but Ghana will choose its own partner to set up the integrated aluminium development industry. The partners could come from America, Australia, Canada, China, wherever. Once we are confident of the capacity of the potential partners, we can enter into partnership with them.
The Ghana Economic Forum (GEF) serves as a platform to bring captains of industry to discuss, debate key issues affecting the Ghanaian economy, and to put forward solutions to help overcome the many challenges.
Participants at the forum included Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Chairperson of Groupe Nduom, and other captains of industry. It was organised by the Business and Financ
