..rumours have it that Ghana’s inability to secure natural gas from Nigeria, a country endowed with abundant natural gas to feed Asogli thermal plant or any other pertinent thermal plant/s in the country to generate supplementary electricity energy to add to national grid is economic one..
But it doesn’t seem likely from all logical point of view, because we could have used just a fraction of the amount inccured in Almeri deal (Turkey power barges’ deal) to defray the debt and that would have paved way for gas supply from Nigeria
Nevertheless, for any well meaning Ghanaian both in Ghana and abroad, it will be very embarrassing and frustrating to note, after 60 years of independence we are still unable to adequately deal with fundamental problems associated national amenities like sustainable water and electricity supply at affordable tariff and modernized sewerage disposal system
Over the years, we have ignored the call to boost electricity generation at national level to keep the pace with population growth. We heavily relied on hydro-electric generation mainly by one source, the Akosombo or the Volta dam
Akosombo dam generates 1020 megawatts of energy and Ghana as a nation, Togo and Republic of Benin are entitled to 20% of the total generation of Akosombo dam while VALCO, American owned Aluminium Company in Tema, Accra harnesses the rest 80% for its operations
What kind of agreement is this, why is nobody, (government officials, civil society groups, consumer protection agencies, Ghanaian intellectuals, Bar Association, etc.) complaining of this agreement?
What makes this agreement very disturbing, by terms of contract Ghana was allegedly obliged to pay more than 50% of the total cost of the money accrued in Akosomba dam construction work
I have tried very hard to understand the terms of agreement and its aftermath benefits to the nation but can’t come to any logical conclusion. At least by now, the portion or proportion that the VALCO pays to Ghana as benefit financially and employment wise would have increased by big margin but not a significant paradigm shift
Moreover, when it comes to all these companies savvy in technology to explore our resources, the shady terms of contract must be reviewed or renegotiated very well
The more reasons why some us do not trust 10% allocation of oil revenues from companies exploring our oil wells currently, am worried about the flimsy justification of terms of agreement is marked by international laws
The so-called international laws, even, they are made by technologically prone countries like US and its rich allies, somehow there is no telling that they will go all their lengths not to manipulate or use their powerful influences to bend the laws in their favor
And this makes the more reasons why l have serious doubt that we are going have transparent trials in maritime, oil field dispute with Côte d’lvoire in Hamburg, Germany, a country which sees France as european ‘sister’ whose oil giant Total is behind the oil field dispute
Hence, we ought to have our perspective as to how to explore our resources even without the technology readily at hand, with the kind of intellectuals we have, we should be able to ascertain the cost involved to explore our oil wells so that when it comes to terms of agreement we will get a fair share of the deal
Or rather, the fair deal will give us sufficient natural gas from our own fields – l can’t fathom the necessity to rely on foreign countries when we have our own oil and gas reserves – to run the our termal plants as we boost and consolidate Mix-energy generation
With Keta basin soon coming on board, the drillship would have served a milestone role in exploration. Those who hastily sold the drill ship to defray unwarranted judgement debt and shared the rest of the money among themselves must bow their heads in shame
Now, out of the 20%, from Akosombo or Volta dam, which is 200 megawatts or so, of hydro-electric energy which we have to share with Togo and Benin, we are only able to deal with 60% or more of domestic needs, and that is the main reasons why we need extra megawatts to add to national grid to make it to 100% and ‘reserve’
However it is very important to note, dear reader, that if VALCO, a company at Tema, Accra, needs 80% of the total hydroelectric energy generated by Akosombo or Volta dam to function, or rather if it will have to take more than 4x the megawatts on national grid to operate just one company
You could have better understanding of the deficit, if we should have 10 ‘VALCOS’ or 10 companies of which each with electricity consumption capacity equals that of VALCO in one region or all the ten regions in the near future
Well, am highly optimistic (high expectations ethos), that incoming government headed Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise of one district, one factory or private sector empowerment economic strategy will succeed but he can’t succeed if Dumsor and erratic water supply are not effectively and permanently dealt with!
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.