Speed-up investments into oil and gas infrastructure - Prez Mills

Accra, Feb. 25, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills has directed the Ministries of Energy and Transport to fast-track investments into the construction of a Deep Sea Port with a dedicated oil services facility, and the rehabilitation of the Western Railway corridor.

The directive was aimed at developing the needed infrastructure as Ghana warms up to produce oil and gas in commercial quantities. Calling them "flagship investments," President Mills said they would not only create significant employment, but also support the growth of other industries.

Delivering his second State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Thursday in Accra, President Mills said the development of the gas sector would allow the development of higher efficiency gas turbines, which in turn would ensure dependable supply of electricity at internationally competitive tariffs.

Although oil revenues would start around the fourth quarter of the year, President Mills announced that he had also directed the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to prepare an Oil and Gas Management Bill to be submitted to Parliament for approval.

The Bill is to ensure transparency in the management of the oil proceeds and would commit the bulk of oil revenue to a shared growth fund to finance investment in human resource and other productive infrastructure, including the national power grid, an extensive road network and major extension of power supply systems. Others are the expansion of power generation and improvement in the internal distribution system, and the development of an urban sewerage system.

The anticipated commercial exploitation of crude oil and gas would position Ghana for a major industrial take-off and would lay the foundation for an integrated aluminum, petro-chemical fertilizer, chemical and allied consumer product industries.

President Mills said government was putting together the building blocks of an oil and gas-based industrial architecture to ensure that by 2016, Ghana would have exploited the resources and changed the country's economic paradigm from its dependence on a few traditional raw material exports of cocoa, gold and timber.

He paid tribute to his predecessors including Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's First President, former President Jerry John Rawlings and President John Agyekum Kufuor for their roles in the development of the oil and gas exploration in Ghana, as well as other stakeholders who had contributed to the oil industry. While noting that the actual commercial exploitation was beginning under his administration, President Mills said his vision was to use the oil and gas discovery to transform the Ghanaian economy from its over-dependence on primary raw materials to a diversified, prosperous 21st century industrial nation. During that transformation, which he said would take place between 2010 -2016, government would have established a solid foundation for accelerated job creation and Ghanaians would have better incomes and a much higher standard of living. "We will be well on our way to the middle-income status envisaged under our original 'Vision 2020' Programme. That will be President Mills legacy for Ghana," he said. 25 Feb. 10