WAPCo urged to fulfil April 30 deadline

The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has called on the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to ensure that it does everything within its power to adhere to the scheduled date for resumption of the gas pipeline’s operations.

According to him, the ever-growing significance of gas supply to the region and the importance government attaches to the project makes it imperative for WAPCo to do all it can to meet the target.

The Minister made the call at a meeting with officials of the company at the Ministry on Tuesday.

Recalling the two instances where the scheduled dates were missed, Mr. Buah said the company is already inching toward serious credibility problems, adding that ‘this is an opportunity to restore your reputation’.

The Minister also hinted at plans to meet with officials of N-gas of Nigeria, suppliers of gas to Ghana, to discuss the availability of gas supplies to the country as soon as work on the pipeline is completed.

This, he said, is aimed at avoiding a situation where the pipeline would be in place but without the required volume of gas needed to power the country’s plants.

The officials of WAPGCo were at the ministry at the instance of the Minister to brief him on the progress of re-commissioning works on the West African Gas Pipeline.

The Managing Director of WAPCo, Charles A. Adeniji, in his response told the Minister the company has successfully completed integrity testing of the pipeline connectors, adding that the contractors engaged to undertake the re-commissioning works necessary to bring the pipeline back into operation have mobilised to site and are currently removing water from the pipeline.

He assured the Minister that the April 30 deadline will be met.