The Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko has described past agreements in the energy sector as “deal-driven” and not “strategy-driven”.
He argues that most of the agreements with Independent Power Producers failed to fully address the energy needs of the country and has pledged to employ some strategic policies to guarantee the efficient generation and efficient distribution of power across the country.
“Often times I have maintained and this is a personal view that the Energy Sector has been deal-driven instead of strategy-driven and therefore we do not approach the sector with a comprehensiveness that is required,” the Minister said at the National Policy Summit in Accra today [Tuesday].He indicated that the concentration of power generation in the East; Tema enclave to the neglect of other parts of the country has created what he calls a “load imbalance”.
“Let me give you an example. All the major loads in the country in terms of power generation is concentrated in the East; Tema enclave. There is very little in the Aboadze and there is absolutely nothing in the middle of the country; that in itself creates a load imbalance for GRIDCo ..Because we were driven by the deals we could get, there was no plan to distribute the load around the country. That is my personal view as I have observed it. Even now people prefer to build power plants around the over crowded enclave of Tema.”
Proffering suggestions to these challenges, the Minister emphasized the need to make power sector a strategy driven place where business men find their deals so power will be “competitively procured.”
“We will also use standardised procedures and documentation so that all the liquidity and security documentation that comes with power procurement will be standardized. Investor A faces the same standard document as investor B,” the Minister added.
The Akufo-Addo government had argued that some of the power agreements the Mahama government entered into were bloated.
They complained that, the Ameri Power deal was bloated by about $150 million.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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