Ghana’s Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo has revealed there was a mistake in the 2020 budget statement read on Wednesday in Parliament.
The budget was silent on road projects in the opposition stronghold – the Volta region – however, the senior minister said it was inadvertent.
“It was obviously a mistake,” Mr. Osafo-Maafo said to Citi FM on Thursday, noting that he was also taken aback by the omission.
A Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu Boahen, yesterday also said he was surprised about the omission of the Volta Region in the distribution of the road projects in the 2020 budget.
Mr. Maafo said he has since conferred with the sector minister who confirmed that there was indeed a list of Volta Region roads.
“When I also saw it, I asked myself, how could it be because there were 15 regions instead of 16 and I asked him [the sector minister] and he said we have a whole list for the Volta Region.”
He also stated that the Eastern Corridor road was due to receive attention in 2020.
“For the whole Eastern Corridor road we are doing, most parts of it will be done in 2020. A lot of the Eastern Corridor road passes through the Volta Region so you cannot talk about roads in 2020 without talking about the Volta Region.”
Mr Osafo-Maafo also cited the Volivo Bridge and all roads associated with the bridge, adding that therefore “it cannot be so that there are no roads in the Volta Region.”
The Volivo 540m bridge will run across the Volta River on the Eastern Corridor Road.
By Emmanuel Amewugah, Daily Mail GH
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