The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza, has attributed the financial challenges currently facing the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to the awarding of cocoa road contracts worth GH¢23 billion during the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
He explained that the magnitude of these contracts forced COCOBOD to channel significant funds into procuring construction materials, adversely affecting the institution’s financial position.
Mr Agbodza made the remarks in Parliament on Wednesday while responding to questions regarding the government’s value-for-money analysis and the status of the cocoa roads programme.
“From 2017, if you award in 2023/2024 alone an amount of GH¢23 billion worth of cocoa projects, that is more than all the syndication you can ever get in a year. It means COCOBOD lost focus on cocoa production and was focused on procurement,” he said.
He also highlighted that the suspension of cocoa road projects in 2017 negatively impacted cocoa-growing communities, leading to deteriorating road networks, stalled contracts, disruptions in the cocoa value chain, and hardships for farmers.
“In view of these challenges, government has ceded all cocoa road projects to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, particularly the Urban Roads and Feeder Roads Departments,” Mr Agbodza noted.
The Minister admitted that it would be difficult to provide Parliament with data on the number of cocoa roads completed before the suspension of the project in 2017, as most of the roads had not been finished. However, he indicated that many of the trunk roads originally part of the cocoa roads project had been reprogrammed under the government’s Big Push Programme.
Mr Agbodza further disclosed that a total of 266 cocoa road contracts had been awarded, stressing the need for a comprehensive review of the programme to ensure efficiency and sustainability.
The Cocoa Roads Project, launched in 2015, is a strategic initiative of COCOBOD designed to rehabilitate and construct roads in rural cocoa-growing areas. Its primary aim is to facilitate the efficient transportation of cocoa beans from farm gates to buying centres while improving the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON TETTEY
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