300 million dollars needed to forestall power outages - Kan-Dapaah

The Energy Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah said on Tuesday that about 300 million dollars investment was needed in the power distribution sector for the next five years to forestall the current power outages being experienced countrywide.

He said the investment would enable the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to rehabilitate and upgrade electrical networks to attain the required quality of power.

Mr Kan-Dapaah was responding to one of three major questions Mr Kofi Asante, MP- Amenfi West and the Minority spokesman on Energy, asked in Parliament about what steps the Ministry was taking to address the problem of frequent unannounced power outages in almost every part of the country.

The other two questions were what was the status with regard to the constructions of the 400 MW Bui Hydro Electric Project and when would the electrification project for Brodzekrom, Amoakokrom, Amoaman and Aboi-Nkwanta all in the Amenfi District in the Western Region, which were near the national electricity grid would begin.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said there was power rationing because of overloaded equipment such as transformers and cables and the breakdown of faulty equipment, which have outlived their lifespan.

He said, "the situation has been aggravated by the increasing annual growth in the demand for electricity without the corresponding investment to meet the growing demand".

The Minister said: "The electric utilities have not been able to make the required investments to improve quality of electricity supply due to low electricity tariffs, which have resulted in the poor financial standing of the utilities."

Mr Kan-Dapaah said the utilities have started installing pre-payment meters countrywide to improve quality while the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has also come up with a Transitional Plan to increase electricity tariffs to economic levels by the end of the year 2003.

The second Bulk Supply Power Station has recently been completed at Mallam in Accra in addition to the one at Dzowolu near Achimota, which would improve power supply in Accra,

"There are plans to construct a second Bulk Supply Station for Kumasi and Takoradi as well as a few other regional capitals in the near future”.

Although the Minister could not readily say how soon the regional capitals would benefit from the project, he said the Volta River Authority (VRA) was arranging for funding to complete the second phase of the Aboadze Thermal Power Project, which would generate additional 110 Megawatts thermal power.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said although he could not tell when the proposed West African Gas Pipeline Project would commence yet its completion would enable the country to use gas to generate electricity.

He said: "The initial plan for thermal generation with gas from Nigeria is to construct a new 3,000 Megawatts Power Plant."