It was useless for John Mahama's government to station Karpower at Tema' - Energy Minister

Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, has questioned the decision by the NDC government to position Karpower plant at Tema, describing it as an impractical move.

Peter Amewu explained that the move to situate a power plant procured by the Mahama-led-government where there is no gas when it could have been sited close to a gas-producing plant will only incur more cost and be a burden on citizens.

The Heavy Fuel Oil the plant needs appears to be posing challenges for government considering at least 30,000 tonnes of oil or $9m every month is required for the importation of fuel for the 470 megawatts (MW) power plant.

“You have sufficient gas here. You go and put Karpower in Tema? Does that make sense?” The Minister asked rhetorically.

The Energy Ministry has, since last year, announced plans to move the heavy power plant to Takoradi in the Western Region to reduce the cost of its upkeep on government.

“Gas is cheaper than heavy fuel and so if you are feeding your plant with gas, you expect some sort of comfort in terms of the tariff range and the benefits of consumers. Also the understanding is that instead of allowing the gas to be stranded here and be waste though you are deferring the consumption, it is proper that we send the consumption immediately to Takoradi.” Amewu said.

He added that the delay with the move of the power supplier was so that the NPP government has ample time to ensure the right thing is done and the efficient people deployed to manage the system.

“This project started immediately we came to power. This construction that you are seeing is not a 1-day 2-day thing. It takes time. The common relocation takes a lot of time so if they have started earlier, it would have been completed by now.”