Ghana to net-export power in four years- Mahama

The President of the republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has revealed that, Ghana will become a net-exporter of power within the next four years given the pragmatic and practical measures the government is putting in place to solve the energy crisis in the country.

The President assured the Independent Power Producers, willing to invest in the energy sector of his unflinching government commitment to create an enabling environment for their business to flow efficiently, which would help mitigate the current energy crisis the country is facing.

The President made these remarks at a town hall meeting hosted for him at his hotel in New York City, to interact with Ghanaians across the United States, which was well attended, even by some die-hard members of the NPP-US. Speaking(off-the –cough or extempore) on the current state of the various sectors of the Ghanaian economy - a presentation replete with economic indices, facts and figures on his figure tips, the seasoned-communications-expert President Mahama noted that, the Ghanaian economy is moving at a faster pace, hence the government is targeting 8 percent growth rate per year. And expressed hope and optimism that, “Ghana will progress to a middle income status in the next eight years.” Touching on the transport sector, he disclosed that, “95 percent of our transports are (dominated) by the road sector, and there is the need for the government to revamp the rail sector, which adds to the GDP of any country.” He noted that the government has taken over the Tema Shipyard from the Malaysian investors, with the intention to revamp and re-invigorate it, so that all the ships in West African will use it to dry-dock in Ghana.

He also expressed government commitment to revamp Tema Oil Refinery to enable Ghana’s crude oil be refined right within the Ghanaian shores which will create more jobs for the unemployed youth.

The President also lamented the rife and rampant spate of market fire incidents, which he directed the ministry of Women, Gender and Children’s Affairs to distribute 2 million Ghana cedis to each of the victims, in order to console them and mitigate the effect of this disaster on them.

Since his arrival in New York for the Annual UN General Assembly Summit last Sunday, the President was inundated with so many activities apart from UN program, such as University campuses lectures, Business and Investment meetings, both in and out of his hotel. One of such high ranking personalities who paid visit to the President at his hotel was the current US Secretary of States, Mr. John Kerry.

A brief chat with his Executive Secretary, Dr. Raymond Atuguba revealed that, His Excellency’s itinerary was fully booked for such meetings and engagements, about three month in advance, as these investors and academics were anticipating meeting him when he arrives for the UN Summit.

Story: Husseini Y. BabalWaiz, Press Secretary, NDC NY & New York Correspondent, Africa News Analysis