Govt will ensure affordable electricity tariffs - Kufuor

Bui (B/A) Aug. 24, GNA - The Government would ensure that energy tariffs were realistic and affordable, President John Agyekum Kufuor said on Friday.

He said a fact that the nation needed to face was that energy, which was the most basic infrastructure for socio-economic development, did not come cheaply. "We must, therefore, resolve to pay higher tariffs for its sustained development and enjoyment." President Kufuor was performing the ceremony to signal the beginning of construction work on the 622-million-dollar Bui Hydro-Electric Dam Project in the Tain District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The Project, which on completion would add 400 megawatts to the national electricity generation mix, is being funded with a Chinese loan of 562 million dollars.

The Government of Ghana is providing 60 million dollars. Apart from the hydro-power generation, the Project has irrigation, fisheries and tourism components and the creation of a major metropolis to be known as the Bui City that is expected to economically and socially transform the area.

The Project has been on the drawing board for decades and the construction phase is projected to give jobs to 2,900 Ghanaians. The site was discovered in the 1920s.

President Kufuor announced that 1,000 megawatts of power would be added to the nation's existing capacity by 31st December 2007. This would include the installation of 126 megawatts of Emergency Power Plants - 80 megawatts by a Mining Consortium; 50 megawatts by Wood Group; 185 megawatts by Balkan Energy; 220 megawatts by Alstorm, while Merepower and Shenzen Group would produce 200 megawatts each. He said the Government's overall plan was to triple the country's energy supply capacity from the current 2,000 megawatts to 6,000 megawatts by 2015.

He spoke of plans to build small dams on Ankobra, Pra, Tano and the White Volta rivers. President Kufuor said to forestall the recurrence of the current energy shortage and to take care of the anticipated increase in population and widespread industrialization, planning ahead for increased energy supply should become part of the national culture. 24 Aug. 07