Two sign $64m BOT agreement for expansion works at University of Ghana

The University of Ghana (UG), Legon has signed a $64-million agreement with Africa Integras, a private equity firm, for the latter to construct additional buildings and a hostel for four colleges of the university.

Under the agreement, Africa Integras will build, operate and transfer (BOT) five buildings to the university after 25 years.

Work on the construction of the College of Education, the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, the Institute of Technology and Applied Sciences and the expansion of the College of Humanities is expected to commence in September this year and completed in 2017.

Signing ceremony

Under the agreement, a new facility will also be constructed for the College of Health Sciences near the new University of Ghana Teaching Hospital.

The project will also involve the construction of a 1,000-bed hostel for undergraduate and postgraduate students and will specifically serve the College of Health Sciences.

The Vice-Chancellor of the UG, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, initialled the agreement for the university, while the Managing Partner of Africa Integras, Ms Andrea Pizziconi, signed for her company.

Largest expansion project

At the signing ceremony in Accra yesterday, Prof. Aryeetey said the project represented the largest expansion of infrastructure at the university in its 66-year history.

He explained that the university had not borrowed money to expand infrastructure but simply given out land for the buildings, which Africa Integras would rent and operate for 25 years, after which it would be fully handed over to the university.

The project, he said, would enable the university to realise its long-term vision to create capacity and provide modern research facilities to admit more graduate and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students.

He added that over 10,000 teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, as well as other critical professionals, would be trained within the BOT period at both the undergraduate and graduate levels as a result of the expanded facilities.

Public-private partnership

For her part, Ms Pizziconi said the public-private partnership (PPP) between the university and her outfit demonstrated the benefits of private investment.

She said the company was committed to supporting, strengthening and maintaining the university’s role in providing higher education, with focus on modern research facilities.

“Education access is a human right. It is one of the most correlating factors of long-term economic development,” she said.

Ms Pizziconi explained that the project would be managed privately, since it involved investments from a number of companies such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and other international investors.