President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled the Volta Economic Corridor as the flagship initiative under his administration’s proposed 24-Hour Economy policy.
He pledged a sweeping transformation of the Volta Lake region to unlock its untapped agricultural, industrial and environmental potential.
The announcement was made during the official launch of the 24-Hour Economy programme in Accra on Tuesday, July 2, 2025, where Mahama invoked the legacy of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, as inspiration for the initiative.
“Our flagship intervention is the Volta Economic Corridor—a transformation effort that will unlock the economic and environmental potential of the Volta Lake and its surrounding lands,” Mahama declared.
He emphasized that the corridor is intended to revive and expand the original Akosombo development vision spearheaded by Nkrumah in the 1960s. That vision, he said, went far beyond hydroelectric power generation, encompassing a full-scale agro-industrial revolution that has remained largely unrealized.
“Today, we will recreate Kwame Nkrumah’s dream. Today, his dream comes alive again,” Mahama proclaimed to a cheering audience.
The corridor will serve as the central pillar of the broader 24-Hour Economy strategy, which seeks to drive productivity around the clock through investments in agriculture, industry, tourism, and infrastructure. The initiative is structured under four main sub-programmes:
Grow 24:
Plans to irrigate over 2 million hectares of land to support year-round, intensive farming activities.
Make 24:
Establishment of agro-industrial parks with a focus on sectors such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, and food processing.
Show 24:
Development of tourism clusters along the Volta Lake to attract investment in heritage, hospitality, and eco-tourism industries.
Connect 24:
Transformation of the Volta Lake into a key inland waterway, linking northern and southern Ghana and enhancing east-west trade corridors.
The Volta Economic Corridor, Mahama explained, is not just an infrastructure project, but a multi-sector growth strategy designed to generate jobs, expand export capacity, and improve livelihoods in rural communities.
Supporters of the initiative view it as a major boost to Ghana’s long-term competitiveness and a potential game-changer for economic inclusion and regional integration.
The 24-Hour Economy proposal is a central policy theme in Mahama’s campaign as he seeks to return to office in the 2024 elections. His team has framed it as a national productivity blueprint that leverages technology, infrastructure, and policy reforms to stimulate round-the-clock economic activity.
