VRA does not respect Parliament-Adamu

Accra, July 25,GNA- Mr Seidu Paakuna Adamu, Minority Spokesman on Energy, on Friday said the management of the Volta River Authority (VRA) had on several occasions refused to appear before the Finance Committee of Parliament.

He said the bulk energy supplier had resorted to excuses that sought to undermine the authority of the House.

The member was contributing to the motion for the adoption of a report on a loan agreement between Ghana and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development for 16.25 million dollars for financing the 330 kv Aboadze-Volta transmission line project.

Mr Adamu said the VRA had on one occasion sought to state that the committee sought permission from the Minister of Energy before it appeared before it.

He said VRA was a drain on the economy and yet warding off probing eyes.

He said the nation was spending one million dollars a month on a Strategic Reserve Plant, which had not produced a single unit of electricity.

Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, Minister of Finance, said VRA did not err in asking for the Minister of Energy's permission to attend upon the House. The Minister said the project would afford the VRA the luxury of transporting power from the Aboadze thermal plant (Western loop) to the Eastern loop.

He said currently, hydro-power generation contributes 35 per cent of the total energy needs of the country with the rest coming from thermal generation.

Mr J.H.Mensah, Senior Minister, said VRA had been a victim of adverse natural circumstances.

He said rain had not fed much of the catchment areas of the Akosombo Dam, thus hampering the efficiency of the dam. The member said government would be lenient to the VRA and help it play its role in national development by contracting vital loans for it.