The veteran politician who was the Minister of Railways Development at the time negotiations were held for the Sky Train Project, maintains that President Nana Akufo-Addo's Government was not to blame for the non-execution of the project.

According to him, the project was not to be funded by the government but rather by a Build Operate and Transfer agreement with investors.

Instead, he suggested that the project was halted by lockdowns in Ghana and South Africa at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 which prevented the investors from meeting some conditions precedents for the project including conducting a full detailed study and costing.

"I stated that it was Build Operate and Transfer and the investors were the ones funding the project not the government," Mr Ghartey said in a statement.

"Furthermore, I stated that after the agreement was signed in November 2019, the investors were to bring a team from South Africa in 2020 to complete all the engineering designs etc, which would have determined the exact cost of the project. This. I said would enable us determine the term of the concssesion agreement.

"I said further that even after the agreement had been signed. there were a number of Conditions Precedents that had to fulfilled before the agreement became effective. For example, it needed Parliamentary Approval, approval from the Public Procuremnt Authority, approval from Cabinet, approval from the Minstry of Finance and other approvals such as a Value for Money Audit.

"All this was premised on the investors coming back to conduct a full detailed study and costing. The agreement was signed in 2019, November and early 2020 due to COVID both Ghana, the destination of the investment and South Africa, where the experts to conduct the detailed study were coming from, were locked down. I never blamed government or said the project was not executed because of lack of government funding. It was never to be funded by government, in any event".

Read his entire statement below:

Statement by Joe Ghartey on wrong reportage on Sky Train Project arising out of interview with Citi FM on various News Portals

My attention has been drawn to various headlines concerning the Sky Train in my interview on Citi FM, Eyewitness News, on January 17th 2023. It is alledged that I said that the said project was not realised because of budgetary constraints. One headine states that I said “ That it was not constructed because of lack of funds”. Another stated that I blamed NPP for the project not being done.

There is nothing further from the truth. I stated that it was Build Operate and Transfer and the investors were the ones funding the project not government.

Furthermore, I stated that after the agreement was signed in November 2019, the investors were to bring a team from South Africa in 2020 to complete all the engineering designs etc, which would have determined the exact cost of the project. This. I said would enable us determine the term of the concssesion agreement.

I said further that even after the agreement had been signed. there were a number of Conditions Precedents that had to fulfilled before the agreement became effective. For example, it needed Parliamentary Approval, approval from the Public Procuremnt Authority, approval from Cabinet, approval from the Minstry of Finance and other approvals such as a Value for Money Audit.

All this was premised on the investors coming back to conduct a full detailed study and costing. The agreement was signed in 2019, November and early 2020 due to COVID both Ghana, the destination of the investment and South Africa, where the experts to conduct the detailed study were coming from, were locked down.

I never blamed government or said the project was not executed because of lack of government funding. It was never to be funded by government, in any event. I have attached a copy of a recording of the interview.

Joe Ghartey
January 18th 2023