National cathedral will promote religious tourism – Deputy Finance Minister

A Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr. John Kumah has said that the construction of the national cathedral edifice has economic benefits for the country.

The Deputy Minister’s comment is in sharp contrast to claims by critics that the project has no economic benefits to the country for the government to commit state funds to it.

According to the Deputy Minister, the national cathedral is an asset back infrastructure that will be fully paid for between ten to fifteen years.

He noted that the edifice has the potential for religious tourism which will rake in revenue for the state.

He said the construction of the cathedral is just like the construction of the National Theatre which has become a full-fledged government property because it has been fully paid for.

“Anything that comes with the name national is state property so there is nothing wrong with building a National Cathedral for the state.”

He stressed that the national cathedral is state property even though it was the president's pledge to build it.

“The building cannot be said to be a useless project because the project has tall economic viabilities,” he said.

Speaking on Accra-based Okay FM, he urged critics of the project to differentiate between the viabilities of the project and the president’s pledge to build the project in accordance with his covenant with God.

“The project is the same kind of national cathedrals that has been built in countries like Italy, France USA, and the nearby Ivory Coast,” he noted.

“Do these critics of the project know the amount of money being made by the Ivory Coast by way of religious tourism”? he quizzed.

He explained that the neighbouring countries make a lot of money from religious tourism annually and, therefore, called on Christians to be measured in criticizing the project