$30m oil money for KIA Terminal 3

• Posted on February 19, 2019
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

About $30 million of the funding required for the construction of the newly built Terminal Three of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) was sourced from oil revenues.

The figure, which represents 12 per cent of the total funding of the $250 million project, was from the Annual Budget Funding Account’s (ABFA’s) allocation to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Funds (GIIFs) in 2016. The remaining was sourced from Africa Development Bank and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

The Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Dr Stephen Manteaw, disclosed this at a workshop by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) and German Development Corporation (GIZ) in Koforidua in the Eastern Region, on February 16.

“The newly built terminal three received $30 million from the oil proceeds through GIIF but most Ghanaians were yet to be informed about it. This is in spite of the fact that the facility was opened to the travelling public on September 15, 2018,” he said.

As a result, Dr Manteaw underscored the need for projects developed with oil proceeds to be labelled for Ghanaians to appreciate whether the oil proceeds were being utilised well or not.

“For us, labelling of projects that are being funded by proceeds from oil is critical for Ghanaians to appreciate how their resources are being used,” he said.

Towards that end, he called on the government to provide PIAC with information on all physical infrastructural projects it intended to fund with petroleum revenue this year.

He said the new terminal, which had become a tourist attraction for many travellers, received $30 million allocation from the oil proceeds.

Checks by the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, however, indicate that the GACL had already started servicing loans secured for the construction of the terminal three with revenue from the airport tax.

The airport tax component is often paid by airlines and their passengers for using the airport facilities.

Asked whether GACL was in a better position to repay the loans, the chairman answered in the affirmative, explaining that he was optimistic that the airport authority would be able to service the loans from the various sources within the shortest possible time.

“Unlike other public institutions, GACL is properly managed without government interference in its day-to-day activities, and so we have confidence that investment used for the project will soon be returned,” he said.