The $2 billion Master Project Support Agreement (MPSM) between the Government of Ghana and Sinohydro Corporation Limited for the construction of infrastructure projects in Ghana has been signed in Beijing.
The $2bn Ghana-Sinohydro infrastructure agreement was signed following President Akufo-Addo state visit to China.
Confirming the $2bn Ghana-Sinohydro infrastructure agreement has been signed, President Akufo-Addo in a Facebook post said "On Saturday, 1st September 2018, at the invitation of the President of the People's Republic of China, His Excellency Mr Xi Jinping, I paid a State Visit to China.
Amongst others, I held separate bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping, and Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, with the talks centred on deepening the ties of co-operation and the bonds of friendship between the two countries. The $2 billion Sino-Hydro deal was also signed between the Government of Ghana and Power China."
Parliament in July approved a $2 billion Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA) between Ghana and Sinohydro Corporation Limited for construction of priority infrastructure projects.
The facility, a project financing arrangement, was laid in parliament by Mr Kwaku Kwartebg, a Deputy Minister of Finance.
The barter trade facility will be used to construct roads, hospitals, houses, rural electrification, interchanges, bridges and other government priority projects.
However, the Minority in Parliament has expressed their concern over the $2 billion transactions between Ghana and Sinohydro, a Chinese hydropower engineering company the Minority wrote to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek its verdict on the matter.
According to the Minority Leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu, their side considers the deal to be a loan, hence their letter to the IMF.
The letter was to ask the IMF whether the $2 billion Chinese deal agreed by the government in exchange for bauxite will add to the country’s debt burden
“It is our strong belief that this Sinohydro deal is a loan which is coming to add to the debt stock and we are concerned about the burden of additional borrowing cost on the over-burdened taxpayer,†Iddrisu said.