The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) is set to begin operations in 2015 after the appointment of the Board and Advisory Council Members.

Accordign to Mr. Seth Terkper, Ghana's Minister of Finance, the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank have pledged their support to the GIIF. Mr. Terkper announced it this week during the 2015 budget presentation in Parliament.

In mid July the Parliament passed the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund Bill, whose purpose is to establish the GIIF.

The fund will mobilise and provide financial resources to manage, coordinate and invest in a diversified portfolio of infrastructure projects in the country for national development.

GIIF will partner the private sector to finance critical infrastructure projects. The establishment of the fund will also enable self-financing projects to be taken off the government's balance sheet and managed as commercial projects.

The fund will focus on 2 key sectors: energy and transport (specially in roads projects).

Ghana, as a lower-middle income country, has recorded an impressive growth from 5.1 per cent in 2003 to 14.4 per cent in 2011 and 7.1 per cent in 2012. Private sector participation has been identified as one of the available options for supporting continued growth and improving the quality of infrastructure system.

The World Bank is supporting the launch of PPP projects in Ghana through a US$30 million loan to the government. Ghana has already used part of this loan to finance transaction advisory contracts. The government has launched tender processes to hire transaction advisors for the following projects:

• Office Accommodation Complex on a PPP arrangement.
• Sports and residential/camping facilities PPP project at The National Sports College in Winneba.
• Accra - Tema Motorway PPP project.
• Boankra Inland Port and Eastern Railway Line PPP project.
• Accra - Takoradi Road Dualisation PPP project.
• Port of Takoradi PPP project.