Minister says energy generation programme is on course

Accra, April 21, GNA - Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei, Minister of Energy, on Tuesday said the government's energy generation programme was on course to delivering 5,000 mega watts in the medium term as promised in the NDC manifesto.

"In terms of energy generation we are on course to fulfilling our manifesto promise of increasing energy generation capacity from the current 2,000 mega watts to 5,000 megawatts in the medium term," he said.

The Minister gave the assurance when he took his turn at maiden edition of the "Meet the Press" series under the new administration. He said at the inception of the new administration in January 2009, the installed operational power generation capacity was 1,810 MW, comprising 1,020 MW from Akosombo, 160 MW from Kpong, 550 MW from Takoradi Thermal Plant, and 80 MW from Mines Reserve Plant.

"As we speak, the total installed operational capacity has increased to 1,925 MW.owing largely to the completion and commercial operation of the 126MW Tema Thermal 1 Power Project."

Dr. Oteng-Adjei said beyond the existing plants, a total of about 1,305MW of capacity was under construction by the government and independent power producers while other plans had been initiated to increase power generation capacity in the country.

He said the level of capacity that the government sought to achieve, would boost investor confidence, enable Ghana to supply adequate electric power to meet the growth in national electricity demand, and also for export to neighbouring countries.

"We aim to be a net exporter of electricity by 2012," he said. He said currently 54 per cent of the country was covered under the national grid and that would reach 70 per cent in 2012. Dr. Oteng-Adjei assured Ghanaians that as per the prices of petroleum products, the government would continue to keep faith with the citizens by ensuring that it cushioned the consumers from unbearable prices hikes.

He said already, government was losing five million dollars a month due to tax cuts on petroleum prices and the Ministry of Finance had been charged to use its own creativity to generate funds from other sources to fill that gap.

The Minister however pointed out that, due to subsidies by the previous government, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), had incurred huge under-recovery debt to the tune of over US$350 million.

"We will strengthen TOR by paying off the debt but we will ensure that we do nothing more to incur that debt again," he said.

He said with regards to fixing prices, when the current deregulation programme reached its full cycle, market forces, rather than the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), would determine the prices. Regarding oil exploration offshore, he said there were 11 explorers at the moment but the government was gunning for more investors to come in and acquire blocks within the Jubilee Field and undertake more exploration activities.

He said government was also seeking to extend the continental shelf under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adding that the request would be submitted on April 28, 2009.

"We need to get more investors into the industry because the target is to become a net exporter of oil by 2011," he said.

Dr. Oteng-Adjei assured potential investors that government had streamlined the licensing process to ensure smooth access and operations in the industry, adding that, government would however not countenance the situation where local people were used as mere agents.

"We will ensure that local people are trained and made shareholders in the industry instead of just agents for some foreign companies," he said.

He announced that the country needed US$10 billion to meet the need of the energy selector. 21 April 09