After lying dormant for more than ten years, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Teaching Hospital project is finally seeing renewed life, thanks to fresh government funding. A commitment of GH¢46 million has been announced to restart and complete the long-stalled facility — a development that renews hope among students, faculty, and residents of Kumasi and its surroundings. Yet, many observers believe the wait could have been avoided — and that Ghana’s approach to financing public infrastructure is largely to blame.
Speaking at the 50th Anniversary Grand Durbar of the KNUST School of Medical Sciences (SMS), Minister of Education Hon. Haruna Iddrisu revealed that contractors would be returning to the site within 30 days. For over a decade, the unfinished structure had stood as a monument to good intentions trapped in bureaucracy — a visible reminder of how promising initiatives can lose momentum when financing and administration fail to align.
Once completed, the hospital will serve as both a modern teaching and research hub for medical students and a vital healthcare center for the Ashanti Region. Initially projected at $125 million, the project was launched through a partnership between KNUST and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), with completion originally expected within six years. Twelve years later, the site is still unfinished.Hon.
Haruna Iddrisu added that GETFund will contribute an additional $38 million to equip and finalize the hospital, signalling a renewed push to deliver on a long-delayed national asset.
Progress — with a Hint of Regret
The decision to revive the project is praiseworthy. The government’s renewed effort and KNUST’s persistence reflect a shared commitment to advancing medical education and healthcare delivery.However, this milestone also carries a tinge of regret.
For a decade, the hospital’s empty halls could have been alive with medical trainees, patients, and research breakthroughs. The prolonged delay likely cost the country in lives, opportunities, and progress.The episode underscores a recurring challenge in Ghana’s infrastructure landscape — heavy dependence on public funding, even in cases where alternative financing methods could yield faster, more sustainable outcomes.
Rethinking How Ghana Builds
It is prudent for any government to match its ambitions with fiscal capacity. Yet, Ghana’s habit of waiting for scarce public funds before initiating projects has repeatedly proven slow and inefficient. The KNUST Teaching Hospital might have been completed long ago if a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework had been adopted from the start.Under PPP arrangements, private entities finance and operate infrastructure projects while the government maintains ownership and oversight.
The investors recover their costs through service fees or long-term contracts — a system that blends accountability with efficiency.If such a model had been applied, KNUST’s hospital could already be serving the public — without worsening the national debt burden. Instead, reliance on loan financing has added pressure to Ghana’s fiscal space, limiting the ability to fund other priorities in education, energy, and agriculture.
This debt-heavy approach leads to higher borrowing costs and periodic dependence on international bailouts from institutions like the IMF — a cycle Ghana knows too well.A well-designed PPP could have spared the country these challenges. Private capital would have carried a large share of the financial load, while the government and KNUST contributed strategically to demonstrate commitment. That balance could have freed public funds for other pressing needs and ensured timely delivery.
The Promise of the PPP Approach
Across the continent, Public-Private Partnerships are reshaping infrastructure delivery. From hospitals in Kenya and Nigeria to toll roads in South Africa, PPPs are proving that collaboration between governments and private investors can speed up development.Ghana, too, has recorded PPP successes in sectors such as energy and transport.
Yet the approach remains underutilized — often because of limited technical knowledge, low investor engagement, and resistance to change within public institutions.If Ghana truly aims to “reset” its development model, as policymakers often declare, it must move from public-only funding to a PPP-first approach for commercially viable projects — including hospitals, schools, and select roads.
The KNUST Teaching Hospital project is a perfect example. Its revenue potential — through medical services, research, and insurance partnerships — could have made it attractive to investors. A simple feasibility study years ago would likely have confirmed this viability.
What Was Missed — and What Can Still Be Done
Ghana’s challenge is not the absence of capital, but the absence of strategy. There is no shortage of global investors eager for credible, well-structured projects in Africa. What’s missing is the ability to prepare and present projects in ways that appeal to them. At a recent PPP Expert Panel Roundtable in Accra, participants identified two key gaps: a shortage of investor-ready projects and a lack of professionals skilled in PPP design and negotiation.
Bridging these gaps will be essential to transforming Ghana’s development model.By building local expertise and marketing structured, investment-ready projects to global financiers, Ghana could unlock billions in private funding — reducing its debt dependency and ensuring that projects are completed on time. Making PPPs the default approach for large-scale infrastructure could usher in a new era of efficiency and speed — one where projects like the KNUST Teaching Hospital no longer languish for years before completion.
From Reflection to Reform
The resumption of work on the KNUST Teaching Hospital is welcome news — but it should also serve as a national lesson. Ghana cannot continue developing major infrastructure through the same slow, debt-driven methods.While the government’s renewed effort is commendable, the real success will come when Ghana institutionalizes smarter, sustainable financing systems.
Prioritizing PPPs could release public funds for essential services while expanding the country’s capacity to deliver high-quality infrastructure — from health and education to energy and transport.As cranes rise once again on the KNUST campus, optimism is returning.
The hospital will soon provide students with hands-on clinical experience and deliver essential care to thousands of patients. But beyond physical construction lies a deeper insight: progress depends as much on financial innovation as it does on vision and effort.If Ghana embraces that truth, the next generation of national projects will not be defined by delays — but by delivery.
