Lack Of Gas Stalls Sunon-Asogli Power Project

Sunon-Asogli Power Ghana Limited, an independent power producer, is ready to connect 200 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. However, the company is constrained by the lack of gas supply from the West African Gas Pipeline Projectwhose operations have been stalled as a result of technical difficulties and the operations of pressure groups within the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

This was made known when the President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, paid a working visit to the project site at Kpone, near Tema, yesterday.

Speaking on behalf of the managers of the project, Togbe Afede II, a director, said the company was expected to produce a total of 560 megawatts of electricity for the Ghanaian market after the completion of the project.

He called for the intervention of the President and the government to liaise with other governments in the West African sub-region involved in the project to find quick solutions to the problems confronting it.

Togbe Afede explained that the supply of gas to the power plant would, in no small measure, make a significant input into the government’s bid to restructure the country’s industrial and manufacturing base.

Replying, President Mills commended Togbe Afede and other partners for their foresight in siting the power plant in the country.

He said electricity was one of the most important factors of production which should be available in inexhaustible quantities for use by manufacturing concerns and the establishment of cottage industries in the rural communities.

The President noted that the production of electricity through the usage of gas would also lower the tariffs paid by the people and also enable companies to save money to expand their capacities and employ more people.

He gave the assurance that the government and others in the sub-region would strive to fix the problems bedevilling the gas project so that the Sunon-Asogli Power Plant could begin operations within the shortest practicable time.

President Mills explained that the feat chalked up by the company fitted into the government’s agenda to boost electricity production in the country as captured in its manifesto.

He said the government would provide the necessary conditions for the economic development of the country and offer material empowerment to improve the lives of the people.

He said the government was committed to providing infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals to cater for the ever-rising needs of the broad masses of the people.

He said there were millions of Ghanaians living in the rural communities who had been deprived of basic amenities such as potable water, clinics and feeder roads, adding that “my tour of the country, especially during the 2008 electioneering, gave me a clear insight into the poverty situation of the masses of the people”.

President Mills called for hard work and discipline among the workers to ensure that the company served the needs of the country into the foreseeable future.

Kweku Tsen