President Explains Why Load Shedding

The current load shedding exercise is not as a result of lack of foresight or negligence on the part of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Volta River Authority (VRA), says President J. A. Kufuor.
President Kufuor said this on Thursday in his remarks at the fourth quarterly meeting with members of the Council of State at the Castle.
The situation, he said, would not have occurred but for some disturbances in Nigeria gas would have been pumped to operationalise the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project to augment the Akosombo Dam.
The load shedding will be suspended during the Christmas festivities and on March 6 next year and then stopped completely by the first quarter of next year when the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project becomes operational.
He said his assurance stemmed from reports he had received from both the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG.
He therefore appealed to Ghanaians to bear with the load shedding situation as it would not be forever.
He said as a long-term measure to solve the problem, the government of China has offered Ghana a loan for the construction of the Bui Dam which will have the capacity to generate 400 megatwatts of electricity.
President Kufuor said the cocaine scandal that had hit the country was worrying and appealed to the entire nation to assist the security agencies to deal with it.
On the situation in Dagbon, he appealed to the parties involved to follow the roadmap for the peace process.
He said the country’s Jubilee year which begins on January 1, would be an action packed one that would start with an assembly of heads of state from Germany, Nigeria and other countries and the youth across the world for a conference to discuss the government’s vision and arrangements for globalisation.
President Kufuor announced that the outgoing Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, is also scheduled to kick-start the 50th anniversary with a lecture as part of a programme to welcome him home after 10 years of service as the UN head.
The chairman of the Council of State, Professor Daniel Adzei Bekoe, commended the government for the many projects initiated.
He commended the government for the preparations being made towards the country’s 50th independence anniversary and the CAN 2008 sporting event and said there was much hope for the future of the nation.