The World Bank has thrown its full support behind Ghana’s ambitious Big Push Agenda, but warned that the programme’s massive infrastructure investments could deliver limited and short-lived benefits unless they are matched with critical reforms.
Without critical reforms in maintenance financing, institutional coordination and governance, the Bretton Woods Institution maintains the programme’s intended success will be insignificant.
Speaking at the launch of the 10th Ghana Economic Update, World Bank Division Director for Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Robert Taliercio, said the Bank strongly supports the vision behind the Big Push programme but stressed that infrastructure spending alone would not guarantee lasting economic transformation.
His warning comes as the World Bank’s latest Ghana Economic Update places the transport sector at the centre of this year’s report, underscoring its importance to economic growth, competitiveness and job creation.
The report argues that Ghana’s transport infrastructure remains significantly below its potential, with poor road conditions, limited rail connectivity and institutional fragmentation continuing to constrain economic activity.
Against this backdrop, the Big Push Agenda represents an important opportunity to close Ghana’s infrastructure gap and improve connectivity across the country. But Taliercio cautioned that the returns on these investments will depend heavily on what happens after the roads, bridges and other infrastructure are built.
“Building roads without maintaining them simply accelerates the cycle of degradation we are trying to break,” he said.
The warning is particularly relevant for Ghana, where newly constructed or rehabilitated roads can deteriorate rapidly when maintenance is delayed or inadequately funded.
For ordinary motorists, this means a smooth new road can quickly become a familiar combination of potholes, congestion and vehicle damage. For businesses, deteriorating roads translate into higher transport and logistics costs. For farmers, poor roads can mean difficulty moving produce from farms to markets.
The World Bank therefore believes the Big Push must go beyond the physical construction of infrastructure. It is calling for stronger maintenance financing, better coordination among institutions responsible for transport, and improved governance and implementation to ensure that public investments generate sustainable returns.
This is particularly important given the scale of Ghana’s infrastructure ambitions and the fiscal pressures facing the country. The 10th Ghana Economic Update makes clear that transport is not merely an infrastructure issue. It is fundamentally an economic productivity issue.
Efficient transport determines how quickly farmers can reach markets, how cheaply businesses can move goods, how easily workers can access jobs and how competitively Ghana can participate in regional and global trade.
Without the reforms, the country risks spending heavily to build infrastructure today, only to spend heavily again tomorrow fixing the same infrastructure it failed to maintain.
