Ghana achieved a national Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI) score of 85.76 percent, marking a significant improvement of more than 14 points compared to the 2021 subnational pilot in the Western Region. The result places Ghana ahead of countries like Uganda and El Salvador while highlighting room for further progress when compared to global frontrunners.
Minister of State for Public Sector Reforms Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba announced the results during the launch of the first National ITI Survey report by CoST Sekondi Takoradi. She described the findings as a turning point for Ghana’s infrastructure governance, noting that the assessment provides the nation’s first comprehensive evaluation of transparency and efficiency within the public infrastructure system.
The report, produced in collaboration with Transparency International Ghana and the National Open Government Partnership Secretariat, aims to enhance transparency, accountability and citizen participation in Ghana’s infrastructure sector. The assessment covered 30 procuring entities across national and local governments, evaluating 60 completed projects in roads, health, education, water and sanitation, energy, transport and housing.
Across the four ITI dimensions, the findings revealed a nuanced picture of Ghana’s infrastructure governance. The Enabling Environment scored an impressive 60.90 percent, confirming that Ghana’s legal and regulatory frameworks strongly support transparency. This dimension examines foundational legal and regulatory frameworks that underpin transparency in infrastructure projects, including the robustness of public information access laws and transparency standards specific to infrastructure.
However, the Capacities and Processes dimension scored 25.45 percent, highlighting challenges in digital procurement systems, contract supervision and internal institutional coordination. This dimension evaluates the extent to which public institutions possess the necessary organizational capabilities, procedures and resources to implement transparent practices throughout the infrastructure project lifecycle.
Citizen Participation recorded 26.35 percent, underscoring the need for more structured mechanisms for community involvement in project planning and implementation. Although provisions exist in the regulatory framework giving citizens opportunities to play active roles in infrastructure delivery, the results show limited entry points along the project lifecycle for citizens to contribute and use disclosed data to hold decision makers accountable.
The Infrastructure Transparency Index is a global assessment tool used to measure how transparent, participatory and accountable public infrastructure delivery systems are at both national and subnational levels. It offers a structured, evidence based evaluation of how effectively governments and procuring entities disclose, manage and use infrastructure data throughout the project lifecycle.
Akanvariba emphasized that accurate, timely and comprehensive infrastructure data empowers oversight institutions, civil society and citizens to demand better governance. She said the ITI’s value lies in its potential to reduce corruption risks, prevent mismanagement and build stronger public trust in government expenditure.
The minister announced that the government is committed to acting on the survey’s findings to strengthen infrastructure governance under the Resetting Ghana Agenda. A Value for Money Office will be established in 2026 to safeguard efficiency and fiscal discipline, enforce cost benchmarks, strengthen oversight and ensure greater accountability in public infrastructure spending.
Samina Bhatia, Deputy Development Director at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, praised the collaborative effort of CoST, the ministry and stakeholders. She described the ITI as a groundbreaking initiative that generates evidence based insights to identify gaps, strengthen systems and build trust in public infrastructure delivery.
Bhatia noted that infrastructure remains central to the government’s priorities, especially given the scale of investment anticipated under Ghana’s development agenda. She emphasized that when significant public funds and public private partnerships go into infrastructure, every investment must deliver real impact for Ghanaian citizens.
The UK has supported accountability and good governance in Ghana through programs including the Open Government Partnership, the Ghana Governance Programme and the Green Cities Infrastructure and Energy Project. These interventions support stronger institutions and citizen empowerment to hold decision makers accountable.
Eugene Ofori Atta, Chairman of the CoST Sekondi Takoradi Multi Stakeholder Group, emphasized that transparent infrastructure delivery is key to economic resilience and public trust. He said the launch sets the stage for a forward looking conversation, bringing together state and non state voices to reflect on current performance, aspirations and strategies for stronger infrastructure governance.
CoST provides a practical and internationally proven approach to improving project governance through structured disclosure, independent review, multi stakeholder oversight and citizen engagement. The organization operates in multiple countries, helping governments improve infrastructure transparency through standardized methodologies and collaborative frameworks.
The 2021 subnational pilot in the Sekondi Takoradi region included 15 procuring entities and recorded an overall score of 21.60 percent. The Enabling Environment scored 60.90 percent, while Capacities and Processes recorded 16.17 percent, Citizen Participation scored 20.40 percent and Information Disclosure managed just 3.69 percent.
Individual procuring entities in the subnational assessment obtained ITI scores of less than 50 percent. The Ghana Water Company Limited emerged first with a score of 46.83, followed by the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly with 42.95. In contrast, Wassa Amenfi West Municipal Assembly and Nzema East Municipal Assembly recorded low scores of 2.08 and 0.74 respectively.
The dramatic improvement in the national assessment reflects both expanded geographic coverage and efforts to strengthen transparency frameworks across Ghana’s infrastructure sector. The higher score indicates progress in establishing systems and processes that support open governance, though substantial work remains in building institutional capacity and expanding citizen participation mechanisms.
Internationally, Costa Rica leads infrastructure transparency efforts with scores exceeding 66 percent. Uganda scored 32.26 percent in its assessment, while El Salvador recorded 27.65 percent. Honduras achieved 63.3 percent, attributed to the country’s strong legislative environment around transparency and access to information.
The ITI uses four main dimensions to generate scores. Beyond Enabling Environment, Capacities and Processes, and Citizen Participation, the fourth dimension is Information Disclosure, which rigorously evaluates the volume and quality of project information proactively published by procuring entities. It assesses the comprehensiveness, accessibility and timeliness of publicly available data ranging from project identification and preparation to contract implementation and environmental impact assessments.
Approximately 10 to 30 percent of investment in infrastructure is lost to corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency globally. Recent estimates from the International Monetary Fund emphasize that in low income countries, inefficiency leads to massive value destruction in public infrastructure spending. The ITI aims to address these challenges by incentivizing better performance and enabling stakeholders to identify specific areas requiring improvement.
The methodology generates scores for individual procuring entities, which are then published in the form of an index that ranks the evaluated entities. The resulting identification of shortcomings in existing practice can be used to develop action plans that raise standards of transparency and accountability within countries or sectors and improve ongoing infrastructure management practices.
Follow up ITI assessments should take place periodically and consistently, allowing time for reforms to be introduced and take effect between assessments. The index is intended not only for CoST members and partners but also for any interested parties seeking to measure and improve infrastructure transparency.
Ghana’s National Farmers’ Day, Infrastructure Transparency Index launch and other recent governance initiatives reflect broader government efforts to strengthen accountability frameworks and public sector performance. The convergence of these initiatives signals renewed commitment to transparent, citizen centered governance across multiple sectors.
The ITI launch concluded with a renewed call for government, the private sector and civil society to sustain the momentum created by the assessment and advance Ghana’s transition toward transparent, data driven and citizen centered infrastructure governance. Stakeholders emphasized that sustained collaboration across sectors will be essential to translating the assessment findings into meaningful improvements in infrastructure delivery.
