Skip to main content

President hails private sector involvement in power generation



By: Fred Yaw Sarpong
 
President John Mahama has hailed the private sector's involvement in power generation in the country, saying the involvement of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in the sector has brought a lot of improvement.
The president said this when he inaugurated a 165 MVA substation wholly financed by the  Enclave Power Company,  which is  the first private sector owned substation in electricity distribution in Ghana.
Congratulating the company for taking the bold decision to join the energy  sector, President Mahama said the participation of the company in power distribution in Ghana is  consistent with Government’s objective of ensuring reliable power supply to industrial as well as domestic consumers for the socio-economic development of Ghana.
‘Enclave Power is a private entity and has the concession to distribute power in the Free Zones enclave and they have been doing this since 2009,’’ he noted.
President Mahama explained that allowing private sector participation in concessions and the distribution of power does not mean government is privatising the  Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
 ‘‘ECG is still a 100% government owned entity and will remain a 100% government owned entity but nothing in our regulations stops private sector participation in managing concessions to distribute power to customers and give them efficient service than we have had in the past,’’ he explained.
He said private sector participation in many areas hitherto monopolised by government is being encouraged. This, he said is leading to increased investment from the financial sector and the capital market and it is introducing efficiency into the operations in those sectors.
He promised that government will continue to partner the private sector to ensure that reliable power is supplied sustainably for the development of the country.
 ‘‘The power supply challenge we are currently going through is affecting both industrial and domestic activities. And as Ghanaians have been informed, we are working tirelessly to ensure that we address these challenges sooner than later. We are making progress in overcoming the power gap. Increasingly power is being fed into the grid and over the last few weeks at least some 200 new megawatts have been fed into the system. We will continue to increase the power that is being fed into the system until the gap is eliminated,’’ he stated.
The Enclave Power sub-station was designed by a team of Ghanaian engineers  with  the actual construction work carried out largely and predominantly by a Ghanaian work force, working alongside engineers from China, Bulgaria and India. The cost  of the  construction  of  the substation is estimated to be about  US$35 million. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vodafone sells 45% shares in Verizon for US$130 billion

Vodafone has sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon Communications in one of the biggest deals in corporate history. The US$130 billion (£84bn) deal was announced by Vodafone after the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company will return £54 billion to its shareholders, of which £22 billionn will go to shareholders in the UK. Vodafone will also invest money in its business, with funds earmarked for high speed mobile phone networks. It said that by 2017 its main five European markets would have almost complete 4G coverage. Possibly it would be wrong to carp and wring hands that Vodafone won't be paying a penny of tax to the British taxman” Vodafone group chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: "The transaction will position Vodafone strongly to pursue our leadership strategy in mobile and unified communication services for consumers and enterprises, both in our developed markets and across our emerging markets businesses." The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shortage of weighing cards hit major hospitals in Accra

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express There is scarcity of Child Health Records Book (weighing cards), in some major public hospitals in the capital, information reaching the Daily Express indicates. Checks by this paper revealed that while some of the hospitals have being encountering the shortage for about a year now, others started experiencing it six months ago. In place of the Child Health Record Book (weighing card), the nursing mothers are given a single card on which information of children are recorded on it. Those hospitals identified are the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu Polyclinic, Kaneshie Polyclinic, Adabraka Polyclinic and the Ridge Hospital. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nursing mothers are given yellow cards in place of the weighing cards. The Public Relations Secretariat at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital said such information has not come to their notice and for that matter they cannot comment on it. “We do not have some ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Barbering Salons, bridging the unemployment gap in Ghana

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Barbering business in Ghana is money making venture, depending on the location of the shop. Various barbering shops scattered across the country charges according to the location of the shop. The nature and sustainability of every barbering shop depends on the location of the shop. The location will determine how much one can charge a customer for barbering his or her hair. Checks indicate that some barbering shops located at Spintex, East Legon and Osu Oxford street charges between GHc15.00 and GHc20.00 per hair cut. At South La Estate, it will cost a customer to pay GHc4.00 for hair cut, while one will have to pay GHc3.00 to barber his or her hair at a place like Nima, Maamobi and Mallam Gbawe. Royal Vulture Executive Barbering Salon is one of the biggest barbering salons one can locate within Accra. One is its shops is located at Madina, near Taxi rank while one is located at Accra New Town, near the Post Office. Customers at Madina pay GHc7.00 ...
7 comments
Read more