Among other things, the President acknowledged government efforts towards revamping the country’s economy, whilst touching on various policies and interventions put in place to ensure growth in all sectors including education, health, agriculture, and the creative arts and tourism sectors.
Akufo-Addo also highlighted Ghana’s COVID-19 fight and how successful the country has been in dealing with the pandemic that caused a global crisis.
Amongst all these, the President highlighted some major projects being undertaken by government. Adding timelines, Mr. Akufo-Addo noted how resolute his administration is to ensure the successful completion of these by the end of his two-year term in office.
Here are the four projects he named and the specific timelines he gave for each of them:
Establishment of National Vaccine Institute:
According to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, plans are far advanced to ensure the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to help with domestic vaccine production.
This he says, will ensure that the country is well-equipped with its own vaccines to promote self-reliance in the face of any health crisis and to avoid a situation where we rely on other countries for assistance like was done when COVID-19 hit.
He says the bill is yet to be submitted to Parliament and the first phase of commercial production is expected to be ready by January 2024.
“We had to learn some very hard lessons, and our belief in the need to be self-sufficient was reinforced when vaccine nationalism was played out blatantly by the rich and powerful countries.
“Mr. Speaker, the Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, which I set up to respond to this obvious deficiency, has put in place a comprehensive strategy for domestic vaccine production, and the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to implement the strategy, which will enable us to begin the first phase of commercial production in January 2024. A Bill will shortly be brought to you, in this House, for your support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute,” he said.
Universal access of electricity by 2024:
President Akufo-Addo, whilst rehashing their feats in distributing electricity to communities across the nation said that some 279 communities have so far been connected to the national grid under the National Electrification Scheme.
487 more are on course to be connected to the national grid he maintained, a project he is sure will be completed before he leaves office in 2024.
“Under the National Electrification Scheme, a total of two hundred and seventy-nine (279) communities have been connected to the national grid. This has increased the national electricity access rate from 85.17 percent in 2020 to 87.03 percent as at January 2022.
“Four hundred and eighty-seven (487) more communities are at various stages of connection and completion. We are on course to achieve our ambition of universal access to electricity by the end of my term as the President of this country,” he noted.
Construction of Law House for justices, judges:
The president in his speech indicated that work has begun on the Law House whose construction has been halted for a long while now since its commencement some 20 years ago.
Under this project, there will be accommodation and office space for the Attorney General’s Office among other things.
“Some of you might remember that work began some twenty years ago on the construction of Law House, a proposed new office accommodation for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, a 12-storey edifice consisting of ten (10) floors above ground and two (2) storeys underground,” he said.
Adding, “Work on the project had stopped many years ago. I am glad to say not only has the project been resurrected, I am told it is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Agenda 111 – construction of hospitals:
President Nana Akufo-Addo was confident that government’s Agenda 111 vision to construct hospitals across the country will be completed before he exits office in 2024.
The project which is intended to provide jobs for some 33,900 persons in the country, he noted, is in a progressive stage as 87 of them are already completed.
“Agenda 111 is an ambitious project, which must and will be done, and which will create some thirty-three thousand, nine hundred (33,900) jobs for construction workers, and, on completion, some thirty-four thousand, three hundred (34,300) jobs for health workers.
“I am able to say that a great deal of the preparatory work has now been completed, and work has started at eighty-seven (87) of the one hundred and eleven (111) sites. I have been assured that preliminary work on the remaining twenty-four (24) sites is ongoing.
“We have every intention of seeing this project through to a successful end, which will enable me to commission all one hundred and eleven (111) hospitals before I leave office on 7th January 2025.
“We are undertaking the construction of 111 entities, which comprise standard 100-bed district hospitals for one hundred and one (101) districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six (6) new regional hospitals for each of the six (6) new regions; the rehabilitation of the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region; one (1) new regional hospital for the Western Region; and three (3) psychiatric hospitals for each of the three (3) zones of the country, i.e. North, Middle and Coastal,” he added.
