Akosombo (Eastern Region) 6 May ?99

The Volta River Authority (VRA) says it is determined to meet all the nation's energy requirements this year because it does not anticipate any energy problem during the period.

Mr Ricky Evans-Appiah, Acting Director of VRA in charge of Engineering Design and Construction, told delegates of the just-ended First Conference of Speakers of West African Parliaments who were on tour of the Akosombo Dam on Wednesday that the VRA will develop additional transmissions to augment existing ones to minimise the risks of low in-flows.

Apart from the additional transmissions, measures will also be taken to ensure that a total of 600 megawatts are put in place within the next two years.

By so doing, VRA will be in a better position than last year to supply the country's energy requirements in a very reliable manner.

Mr Evans-Appiah said work on the fourth unit of the Takoradi Thermal Plant at Aboadze had begun in earnest and expressed the hope that it will be ready for use by June.

Led by Mr Justice Daniel Francis Annan, Speaker of Parliament, the visitors, who had earlier visited the dam site, were welcomed by VRA officials led by Mr Benjamin Osei Afeng, Director in charge of Generation Systems, and Mr Emmanuel Dwamena Bekoe, Asuogyaman district chief executive.

The three-day conference attended by 12 of the 16 ECOWAS member-states under the theme "ECOWAS - The Parliamentary Dimension", was aimed at strengthening parliamentary democracy and fostering inter-regional and sub-regional co-operation.