The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that government requires more than GH¢20 billion to complete all the remaining projects under the Agenda 111 hospital initiative.
According to him, although about GH¢4.8 billion has already been invested in the project, the amount represents only a fraction of the total funding required to complete the facilities and make them fully operational.
Speaking before Parliament’s Assurance Committee on Thursday, July 9, Akandoh explained that the ambitious nature of the Agenda 111 project requires a sustainable funding mechanism, which he said was not established before the project commenced.
“We need a little above 20 billion Ghana cedis. GH¢20 billion which has to be invested. We have invested GH¢4.8 billion already. So it’s just, I mean, a tip of the iceberg and so we need to tackle it,” he said.
The Minister noted that unlike some other government projects backed by secured financing arrangements, Agenda 111 does not have a dedicated and reliable source of funding to ensure continuous implementation across different administrations.
Akandoh further disclosed that government has adopted alternative strategies, including partnerships with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) and private investors, to prevent completed sections of the facilities from deteriorating.
He explained that interested CHAG facilities and private sector partners would be engaged through agreements to complete, equip and operationalise some of the hospitals.
“What we are saying is that if any church is interested in any of the Agenda 111 facilities, we will enter into an agreement with the church or CHAG and they will finish, equip and then operationalise it,” he added.
The Minister stressed that the approach is aimed at ensuring that unfinished health facilities do not deteriorate due to prolonged delays, which could increase the cost of completing them in the future.
Meanwhile has decided to discontinue the implementation of the majority of the Agenda 111 projects, with government now focusing on completing 35 priority facilities across the country.
