ACCRA, Nov. 13 – The government has proposed a new law to channel revenues from Ghana’s oil, gold, lithium, bauxite and other extractive resources exclusively into major national infrastructure, beginning with the Accra–Kumasi Expressway and the Western Corridor Railway Line, the Ghana News Agency reports.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced the planned Natural Resource Revenue Management Act when he presented the 2027 Budget Statement and Economic Policy to Parliament on Thursday. The legislation would replace the Petroleum Revenue Management Act and bring receipts from petroleum and minerals under what he called “one clear and accountable framework, for the benefit of present and future generations”.
He said the present arrangement had spread petroleum revenues and mineral royalties across a wide range of government spending instead of concentrating them on large national investments.
“Let it be placed on record. The same revenue streams that were for over a decade spread thinly and spent on wasteful expenditures such as astroturfs, air tickets, per diems, newspapers, workshops and conferences, will now finance two monumental national investments in four years: the Accra-Kumasi Expressway and the Western Corridor Railway Line,” Dr Forson told the House, according to the GNA.
“Building on that experience, our natural resource revenues will only be directed to major national infrastructure projects,” he added.
Expressway account holds about US$3 billion
Parliament has already approved the dedication of the Annual Budget Funding Amount from petroleum revenues, together with mineral royalties, solely to the Accra–Kumasi Expressway. Dr Forson said a dedicated project account at the Bank of Ghana held US$2.2 billion and GH¢9 billion as of 11 November 2026, together equivalent to about US$3 billion.
According to GhanaWeb, the engineer’s construction estimate for the 198.7-kilometre, six-lane expressway now stands at US$2.98 billion, more than US$1 billion below an earlier projected cost of about US$4 billion.
International competitive tenders have been issued, with the process expected to conclude by the end of 2026. “We promised to secure the financing. We have done so. Promise made, promise fulfilled,” Dr Forson said. He added that estimated savings of more than US$1 billion would be enough to build the proposed Accra Orbital Expressway, for which preparatory studies are already under way.
Western Corridor Railway without borrowing
The same financing model is proposed for the Western Corridor Railway Line. Petroleum revenue accruing to the budget and mineral royalties would be dedicated to its construction in 2027 and 2028. The line would run from Takoradi Harbour through Nsuta and Awaso to the Nyinahin bauxite enclave in the Ashanti Region.
“Mr Speaker, we will build the Western Corridor Railway Line from Takoradi through Nsuta and Awaso to Nyinahin with our own money,” Dr Forson said. “Just as we pledged for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway, we will not borrow to build this railway.”
He said President John Dramani Mahama had tasked the Ghana Armed Forces with securing the right of way, while feasibility studies, engineering designs, costing and environmental and social assessments were continuing.
The minister argued that weak rail infrastructure had for years limited the development of Ghana’s bauxite and manganese resources. “For decades, the lack of adequate rail infrastructure has left much of our bauxite and manganese stranded,” he said. Ghana holds an estimated one billion tonnes of bauxite at Awaso and Nyinahin.
“Mr Speaker, that is hundreds of billions of dollars, sitting in our soil, waiting. Waiting for a railway and energy for value addition here in Ghana,” he added, according to GhanaWeb. The railway is also expected to support the movement of minerals for local processing, with Takoradi Harbour serving as a maritime gateway to the Sahel.