Power Barge: Gov't will keep to 3-week schedule - Donkor

The Minister of Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has insisted government will deliver the first power barge within the 21-day schedule promised a week ago.

A report by the Chronicle newspaper, on Tuesday stated that the arrival of the barges may further delay as they still have not left the shores of Turkey because Ghanaian authorities were still negotiating a partnership deal for the provision of fuel for the barge.

The report cites an elaborate ceremony which saw the transfer of the barges from the Turks to the Ghanaian government in that country, on Monday October 26, where the minister promised the barges would arrive within three weeks.

But Dr. Donkor told journalists in Tema, Wednesday the barges are only undergoing customs clearance in Turkey.

“We are nowhere within getting to the end of the three weeks’ timeline; so I again stand by the three weeks; we are still on schedule,” he said.

“It is a process and we made sure that we said it was going to go into quarantine for customs and all other checks to be done; and all that within the three-week period so it is not when it sets sail. It must set sail from the dock yard to customs for quarantine, and when all that is complete and any other paper work that needs to be completed is done, within the three weeks window; we expect that it will be in Ghanaian waters.”

The power barges were originally scheduled to dock at Tema Port in the first quarter of this year. It was rescheduled to September 2015, but government failed to meet the first two timelines for the arrival of the barges.

This first power barge that has been procured is to produce 225 megawatts of electricity.

The second barge to produce 400MW is expected to be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2016.