Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State in-charge of Public Private Partnership (PPP), has charged engineers and consulting engineers to ensure the social-economic development of Ghana and Africa in general.
He reiterated government’s determination to improve the country’s infrastructure.
The Minister made this known at the ongoing International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC-GAMA) Conference, which opened on Monday, 13th April at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.
Mr Pelpou, who was the special guest at the event, said the country’s rate of infrastructural development has a direct correlation with the growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the improvement in the standard of living of its people.
“The government has developed two policy responses to addressing the challenges of closing the infrastructure deficit gap,” he said.
The policies, he mentioned, included the creation a conducive environment for the private sector to participate in the provision of public good through the PPP’s policy in the development of infrastructure and the establishment of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.
These policies, he said, would go a long way in solving the infrastructural issues in Ghana.
The Major of Accra, Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, also challenged the engineers to ensure that they find solutions to the numerous problems confronting the nation and every city that the conference would take place in future.
“I wish the city of Accra becomes like that of Barcelona and on behalf of my colleague mayors, I pledged our full support to work together with the engineers for better cities in Africa,” he said.
The conference offered the platform to discuss factors inhibiting the growth of the consulting engineering industry in Africa and make proposals for promoting and strengthening inter-regional partnerships amongst consulting engineering firms in Africa region.
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