National Cathedral construction set to begin in October 2020

The public dismay behind the construction of the National Cathedral won’t be ending anytime soon as Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the project has said a new date has been set for the continuation as it was put on hold during the high time of the Coronavirus season. 

Victor Kusi Boateng in an interview with Citi News said the construction which has received several opposition from the public would commence in early October 2020 adding that, the new date will not affect the timely completion of the project.

It was initially expected to begin in April 2020.

“It had to be delayed because there were a few complications here and there with regard to people that were going to work on the project. Actual construction will begin in October [2020] if not for the COVID-19. By the grace of God the main contractor of the project is almost approved and so by the first or second week of October construction will start,” he said.

National Cathedral will be an ‘act of thanksgiving’ to God – Nana Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo had earlier said the construction of the National Cathedral is pivotal to the development of Ghana.

He explained that the country’s comparative performance against neighbouring countries is mainly by the grace of God.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the cathedral on Thursday, March 5, 2020, the President said the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the construction goes to affirm his conviction about the project.

“Ghana has so far been spared civil war, famine and epidemic. We are certainly not better than the other nations in our neighbourhood who have been confronted with these challenges and I believe it is by the grace of God that we are being sustained. It will be an act of thanksgiving to the Almighty for his blessing, favour, grace and mercy on our nation.”

“71 percent of the Ghanaian people adhere to the Christian religion, grouped under the various persuasion of the Christian faith. The Supreme Court of the Republic in unanimously rejecting recently the challenge of the constitutional quality of the Cathedral project laid particular emphasis on this.”

About the Cathedral

The interdenominational Christian Cathedral, when completed, will have a 5,000 seating capacity with chapels, a baptistery, a music school, an art gallery and a Bible museum.

The monument is expected to be put up within the next five years.

The government announced plans to construct the cathedral to serve as a national non-denominational Christian worship centre for Ghana.

Nine justices of the Court of Appeal as well as other judicial staff occupying bungalows around the site earmarked for the project were asked to vacate to make way for the construction of the 5,000-seater capacity facility.

They were moved into temporary residential buildings pending the construction of some new bungalows for them.