Ghana to become a major power exporter - Vice President

Accra, July 26, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Monday announced that Ghana was positioning herself to become a major exporter of electric power in the coming years.

He said 93currently, the country has over 2,000 megawatts of power and we have the vision of increasing it to 5,000 megawatts since we have the comparative advantage to export it to neighbouring African countries."

Vice President Mahama said these when a delegation of Japanese business organizations called on him at the Osu Castle in Accra to express interest in partnering the government of Ghana in so many sectors of development.

The delegation was made up of finance, engineering, energy development, hydrocarbons and fertilizers generating companies and general construction firms.

The Vice President was particularly happy that some of the Japanese companies had expressed interest in the development of power in the era that Ghana was on the verge of drilling oil in larger quantities.

"Financing of projects has always been a major constraint for the government and I am happy that both private and government Japanese companies are all expressing interest to invest in different areas of our economy."

He said government was working round the clock to improve the economic growth rate of the country above six percent by the close of this year and between eight and 10 percent in the next two years.

Vice President Mahama, who traced the cordial relations between Ghana and Japan from the days of Dr. Ngouchi, who research into malaria and died in Ghana and said since then there had been numerous bilateral relations and projects between the two countries.

"As at 2002, Ghana was the second largest recipient of Japanese loans and grants after Kenya until Ghana went in for the Heavily Indebted and Poor Countries (HIPC) programme and we are working hard to ensure that relations increase better in the coming years."

Vice President Mahama also announced that Ghana was at the brink of becoming an emerging economy due mainly to her credentials in good governance, stability, growth in the economy and respect for human rights.

The Vice President said that the country would in the coming years work closer with more foreign partners to achieve its economic goals of providing jobs and skills to the Ghanaian workers.

Mr. Fumio Hoshi, Executive Director of Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said that the Bank would partner Ghana in the import and export sector by creating jobs and transferring of technology to Ghanaian workers.

He said that it would commit a minimum of $2.5 billion dollars in the job creation and technology transfer and appealed to government to take a closer look at their proposals presented to the Vice President.

Mr. Takuma Hatano, Executive Vice President of Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, that engage in hydrocarbons and fertilizers expressed interest in using natural gas in generating adequate energy for the country.

He appealed to the Ghana Government to come out with a master development plan to enable them access areas of cooperation for the benefit of both countries.