Erratic supply of power in Ghana would soon become a thing of the past as government intends to use the second tranche of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to revamp the ailing energy sector.
This was made known in Accra when Patrick Fine, Vice President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation visited the country to assess the progress of projects under the first five-year MCA compact, which would elapse in February, next year.
From April to May, this year, a team comprising Ghanaian and US economists conducted a constraint analysis to determine limitations to Ghana's economic growth.
Out of the analysis, it was identified that the power sector needed to be tackled in order to accelerate the country's development agenda.
The next step, he disclosed, would be for the Government of Ghana to submit a concept paper which would define what the investment programme would look like.
'We are now in conversation with the government over the development of the compact,' he stated.
Though Mr Fine could not disclose how much financial assistance Ghana stands to benefit under the MCA II, he explained that the amount would depend on the concept and programme design that would be submitted by the Government of Ghana.
He gave assurance that by the end of the next six months, the board of the MCC would have finished its work and the amount would be known.
When this is done Ghana would be able to supply quality energy services for all sectors of the Ghanaian economy, he added.
But there is the need to develop infrastructure for the production and supply of adequate energy services to meet national requirement and for export.
Though Ghana is endowed with a variety of energy resources including bio-mass, hydrocarbons, hydropower, solar and wind with capacity to produce modern bio-fuels and explore options to develop nuclear energy, the country relies heavily on multilateral and bilateral donors for the financing of a large part of its power sector.
The country intends to ensure availability and universal access to energy services by 2020.
Since the early 1960s when the Akosombo Hydropower facility was built, the nation has on numerous occasions experienced energy crisis, which has been blamed on the growing demand from households and industry, as well as obsolete equipment.
Ghana secured $547 million in the first compact of MCA, some of which is being used to construct the N1 Highway that connects the Accra-Tema Motorway to Mallam.
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