Open up ECG for massive competition – Economist

An Economist, Kwame Jantuah has asked government to deepen the liberalization of the power sector to allow other independent power distributors to compete with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in order to give consumers choice and improve quality of service in power distribution.

“Power distribution should be opened up for other private companies to come in and compete with ECG. It gives the consumer a choice. Competition will bring the best out of ECG, we need to open up ECG that should bring efficiency and effectiveness from them”

Speaking at the just ended Ghana Economic Forum (GEF), Mr. Jantuah observed that: “It will be a good thing for Ghana to start looking at solar now”

Mr. Jantuah’s comments follows a recommendation from Dennis Brown, a representative from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), who suggested that private sector participation in electricity management was the way to go.

The country is currently faced with erratic power cuts for the past three years resulting in jobs losses and the folding up of businesses, as calls for a holistic approach from policy makers increase. Ghana’s energy sources has mostly come from hydro, but exploring other areas like solar, coal, tidal wave among others, Jantuah suggested will help reduce the burden on the national grid.

Commenting on the adoption of coal as an alternative source of energy production, he questioned the sustainability of the clean coal to supplement the country’s energy sector adding that: “if the major producers decided to put a huge price on coal, how do we raise money to finance its procurement.”

He blamed the media for a huge capacity gaps in the reporting energy and power sector.

“We should keep journalists who specialized in power, energy and petroleum , because for me, it affects directly the ordinary Ghanaian.”

“Ghana should do more with regard to implementation as well as holding leaders accountable, he remarked.

Dr. Henry Alhassan from Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF), urged the country to use the natural resources to develop the country. “It is important to focus on our priority areas to drive the economy” he said.

Mr. Isaac Newton, a representative from African Services Network (ASN), a financial services firm also proposed on a special fund which needs to be set aside to construct future dams to increase the generating capacity of the country.

“I think we need a special fund to construct additional dams that can generate about 6,000megawatts to add to the generation capacity,” he said.