Govt taking steps to solve energy crisis - Kufuor

Accra, Feb. 8, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday gave the assurance that the government was taking short to medium-tem measures to tackle the crippling power crisis, saying these arrangements would provide a total power far in excess of the present shortfall. Delivering his State of the Nation address to Parliament in Accra, he said Ghana would receive power from the West Africa Power Pool whereby within the next two weeks it would benefit from 200 megawatts of power from Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire.
He said the Volta River Authority was poised to establish a 300-megawatt plant at Tema, while it was also building another emergency plant to supply 126 megawatts of power by August this year. President Kufuor said the Osagyefo Power Barge, which had been standing idle, would be empowered to produce 120 megawatts.
A private Ghanaian-Chinese joint venture company was also in the offing to produce, in two phases, up to 600 megawatts, while the government had contracted three American companies to produce up to 110 megawatts by the end of April.
The President also referred to a plan by a consortium of mining companies, which had offered to build a plant at Tema to be completed by June to supply 80 megawatts of power.
"Mr Speaker, additional to these ventures, government has initiated action to build another hydro-electric dam - the Bui Dam. As we speak, there is a high powered delegation in China to sign an agreement with the Chinese Exim Bank for assistance towards the construction of this dam designed to generate 400 megawatts of electricity." President Kufuor said government had not been remiss in its responsibilities, but had rather taken both short-term and long-term measures to solve the problem.
"Within five years, the energy level will be doubled in capacity to cater for the industrial and economic requirements for the next 20 years."
President Kufuor added that research was also ongoing to find alternative sources like solar, wind as well as biological plants like jatropha whose seed was used to produce diesel oil. He appealed to the public to be economical in the use of electrical appliances and also conserve energy within public offices and installations.