Roads and Highways Minister Kwame Governs Agbodza has appealed to contractors and technical staff to translate the more than GH¢23 billion the government has paid toward road works into visible, completed infrastructure, during an inspection of the Tema Motorway Expansion project.
Hon. Kwame Agbodza framed the payment as the largest capital expenditure disbursement to road contractors in the country’s history, but stressed that the figure alone means little to a public that wants to see finished roads rather than balance sheets.
His appeal to make the spending count on the ground came alongside a defence of the outlay against criticism from the president of the Ghana Institution of Engineering over separate funding set aside for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
A Payment the Public Must Be Able to See
The minister was direct about the pressure the government faces to show results. “The Ghanaian public is demanding to see what we are spending the money on,” he said, adding that he expects the impact to become obvious to everybody by the end of 2027.
He put the responsibility for delivering that outcome squarely on the people carrying out the work. “We are counting on you to be able to make the public proud of what we are doing as Ghanaians,” Hon. Kwame Agbodza told contractors and staff on the tour, tying the abstract figure directly to the physical progress of projects like the Motorway Expansion he was inspecting.
The appeal reflects a gap the minister himself has had to manage: a large sum of money moving through the system, much of it settling old arrears rather than funding visibly new construction, at a moment when the public’s patience with road conditions is thin.
Arrears First, Then Visible Progress
Hon. Kwame Agbodza explained that a substantial share of the GH¢23 billion has gone toward clearing debt inherited from the previous administration rather than toward new work.
Using the Ofankor-Nsawam road as an example, he said the project arrived with an outstanding debt of 78 million cedis that had to be settled before contractors could properly resume, money he classified under arrears rather than fresh capital spending.
That distinction matters for what the public can expect to see and when. Clearing arrears restarts stalled sites and unlocks contractor mobilisation, but it does not itself produce new kilometres of road, which is why Hon. Kwame Agbodza tied his appeal for visible results to the period ahead rather than to the payment already made.
He has told Parliament in recent months that the arrears settlement had allowed contractors to resume and accelerate work across multiple sites, including projects running from the Upper East Region to Wa, with some sections targeted for completion by the end of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
Defending the Spend Against Outside Criticism
Hon. Kwame Agbodza used the same appearance to respond to the Ghana Institution of Engineering’s president, who has questioned the roughly $1.7 billion the government has ring-fenced for the planned Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
“Let somebody tell him that we have paid almost two billion dollars already to contractors,” he said, arguing that the sum under scrutiny sits within a far larger commitment already flowing to the sector.
That $1.7 billion was disclosed by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson during the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review, deposited into a dedicated account at the Bank of Ghana and ring-fenced for release only once the main construction contract for the expressway is awarded.
Feasibility studies and detailed engineering work were expected to conclude by the end of August, with procurement for the main contract beginning in September.
Balancing Roads Against Other National Priorities
The minister argued that the pace of road spending has to be weighed against other pressing obligations. He pointed to salaries, health and education as competing demands on the same budget.
He also noted that government had that same day made a separate payment of GH¢10 billion toward pension obligations, an example he used to illustrate that road funding is one commitment among several the administration is meeting simultaneously.
He framed that balance, together with the arrears settlement, as evidence of fiscal discipline under Finance Minister Ato Forson. “We are not going to default on our debt,” he said, adding that the government intends to keep paying contractors on time while pushing forward with President Mahama’s infrastructure agenda.
Hon. Kwame Agbodza’s own framing sets the terms by which the GH¢23 billion will ultimately be judged. He has asked the public to wait until the end of 2027 for the results to become obvious, which means the payment figure he defended this week is, by his own account, not yet the story. The completed roads are.
