Govt defends it's energy policy
.. Invested billion dollars in energy sector
Accra, 28.03.2007, GNA -
Measures announced by President John Agyekum Kufuor in his State of the Nation Address to solve the country's energy crisis are on course and expected to be ready on schedule, his Press Secretary, has assured.
These include the building of a 300 megawatt plant in Tema and another emergency plant to supply 126 megawatts of power both by the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the production of up to 110 megawatts by three American Companies.
Ghana's present total electricity requirement stands at 1,300 megawatts but the total generation mix comes up to 800 leaving a shortfall of 500 megawatts.
Mr Andrew Awuni told a Castle press briefing on Thursday that those arrangements should altogether provide at least enough to take care of the deficit.
The Government has already released funds for the emergency plant and work was steadily progressing on it.
He said apart from these, 19 Independent Power Producers have applied to produce and supply electricity to Ghanaians while a consortium of mining companies have offered to build a plant at Tema by June to supply 80 megawatts of power.
Mr Awuni rejected claims by some social commentators that seem to suggest that the Government has been remiss in its responsibilities to increase the nation's energy capacity.
He said on the contrary, it has taken steps to give both short and long term solutions to the problem and mentioned it's payment of 40 million dollar equity in the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project as far back as in the year 2003 and the raising of the capacity of the Aboadze Thermal Plant from 200 to 500 megawatts.
Besides, he said, the Government, together with the VRA has within the last few years invested nearly one billion dollars in the production side of the energy sector.
The figure did not take into account investment made in the distribution sector and the 600 million dollar Chinese loan to build the Bui Dam.
"This is the level of Government's commitment to dealing with the energy situation. To suggest that the Government is not paying serious attention to the sector can therefore not be true at all."
Mr Awuni who also touched on the West Africa Power Pool, which was supposed to help bring some relief to the country and said it has not yet come on stream due to a technical hitch and that the experts were working to fix it.
The facility for the power transfer was commissioned at Sakite in Benin on February 23, but just after seven minutes, the systems separated as a result of frequency differentials.
Meanwhile, President Kufuor has granted audience to a Special Envoy of the King of Morocco, Mr Taieb Fassi Fihri, at the Castle, Osu. He was there to deliver a message, the content of which, was not disclosed.
Source:
GNA
Akosombo Dam To Be Shut Down?
The Chief Executive officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr. Joshua Kofi Ofedie has reprimanded the public for failing to conserve energy to aid the authority in tackling the power crisis currently bedeviling the country.
Mr. Ofedie acknowledging the magnitude of problems facing the electric energy sector complained that “despite all our appeals” to the public to save energy, “regrettably, there has been very little show of support from our consuming public with respect to efficient use of electricity”.
Speaking at the “Meet-the-press” series in Accra yesterday, the CEO said: “When problems come, we must deal with them and solve them, even though it might create a bit of embarrassment to us”.
He bemoaned the fact that street lights, garden lights, security lights and other lights are left on during the day and some offices use air conditioners inefficiently. “We need to actively show serious concern and actively support our efforts towards getting out the crisis by conserving energy”, he admonished.
Mr. Ofedie said such acts, including power theft or illegal connections and normal operational loss account for 25% loss of production during distribution. He feared the figure might go up if such activities continue.
He asked industrial concerns to install and operate appropriate energy saving devices in their premises.
“These should include use of power factor correction equipment, better and more energy-efficient machinery as part of their support process. In addition, we call on industry to install Motor Energy Control Devices on their industrial motors to reduce their energy consumption,” he said.
He said VRA has, as part of its pilot programme, imported a first consignment of 55,000 CFLs [energy saving bulbs] to be sold at reduced prices to the public. He said all incandescent lamps in schools would be replaced in due course.
He said the load shedding became necessary as a result of delayed and below average inflows into the Volta reservoir.
On the short term measures to mitigate the crisis, Mr. Ofedie enumerated a number of plans undertaken by the VRA with support from the government, which is inclusive of President’s Kufuor’s declaration during his State of the Nation Address to Parliament in January this year.
He said barring any unforeseen circumstances, the power crisis would be over by August. He therefore asked the public to bear with the VRA and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in their quest to save Ghana from plunging into total darkness.
He said as at yesterday, the water level at Volta Lake was 237.60 ft, which is still below the minimum operating level.
“The immediate objective of the VRA & ECG is to ensure that the little water we have is stretched through to the end of June when we expect the major rainy season in the Volta Reservoir’s catchment area to commence.” He said: “Without this intervention, the Akosombo hydro station would have to be shut down before the end of April”.
He said the problem has been compounded by the inability of Cote d’Ivoire to supply Ghana with 200 MW of power as agreed upon. He said Cote d’Ivoire cancelled the agreement this month due to some technical hitches on their part. “We therefore had to find our own means of dealing with the deficit”.
Mr. Ofedie said the total demand on VRA for 2007 is about 10,152 GWh but, the total hydro generation is only 3,370 GWh. He said additional 3,241 GWh could be generated from the Takoradi thermal plant, which leaves them a deficit of about 3,541 GWh for 2007.
He said due to the commissioning of transmission lines between Nigeria and Benin, Benin is able to receive part of their energy supply from Nigeria, thereby enabling VRA to reduce power supply to Togo/Benin to 25MW and retain some 75 MW of energy supply.
He said the government has provided funding to procure and install about 136MW of emergency power plants. The first 50MW, he said, has been installed at Tema and is being tested. He said the remaining 86MW would be brought into service by the end of April.
The VRA boss said the synchronization of Nigerian power system with the CIE-VRA-CEB has been delayed due to technical difficulties associated with load frequency differences between the two systems.
Mr. Ofedie said VRA engineers in collaboration with the Secretariat of the West Africa Power Pool, have been working with the Nigerians to solve the technical glitches.
He said other short term and medium term measures are being put in place to ensure full supply of energy to the public.
Source:
ADM
Fulani herdsmen wrecking havoc in Fanteakwa
Begoro (E/R), 28.03.2007, GNA -
Alien herdsmen operating in parts of the Fanteakwa District are destroying farmlands and are raping women. Due to serious opposition by some of farmers the herdsmen have varied their modus operandi, operating mostly in the night and destroying farms by the time owners return during the day.
Mr Ebenezer Ofoe Ceaser, the District Chief Executive, is therefore appealing to the management of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to serve as its advocate and help to find other ways of resolving the problem.
Mr Ceaser was briefing Mr Isaac Amoh, the National Coordinator of NADMO, when he called on him as part of his working visit to the district.
Mr Ceaser said because the herdsmen were armed, it had been difficult for the people to confront them.
He said efforts over the years by the assembly to find solution to the menace had not yielded any positive result from the Fulani men who allow their animals to destroy their farms.
Inspector I.K. Zogli told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the police's ability to rein in the nomadic herdsmen had been hampered by low staff level and the absence of an operational vehicle. Mr Amoh promised to convey the sentiments of the DCE to government for remedial actions to be taken on the situation before they degenerate into major disasters.
Source:
GNA
37 to be named after Busia?
As part of the year long Golden Jubilee celebrations, Sunday World can authoritatively reveal that a lot of roundabouts, national monuments, intersections and streets will be named after leading Ghanaian heroes.
One such edifice which has got tongues wagging is the covered statue at the 37 intersection.
We can reveal today that the 'Hidden Man' is no other than Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia. Remembering and honouring heroes and outstanding statesmen in any society is a world-wide phenomenon. The practice dates back to ancient times. Ghana has followed this practice and has built monuments in remembrance of some key leaders. The Golden jubilee celebration has afforded a good opportunity to honour more such heroes.
We can also authoritatively reveal that the six busts at the airport roundabout, the main entry point to the country, Airport Roundabout, will be renamed the Big Six roundabout whilst Cantonments roundabout will be named after President Akuffo Addo.
Ex President Hilla Limann will have a major street named after him. Our deep throat sources also have hinted that the newly built stadium in Tamale will be named after the only living Former Head of State, J.J. Rawlings. The Alajo Overhead will also be named after Paa Grant.
Source:
Sunday World
Most sachet water contaminated
Sunyani, (B/A) 27.03.2007, GNA-
Mr. Yaw Addae-Mensah, Brong Ahafo Regional Chief Manager of the Ghana Water Company Limited has revealed that most of the sachets water being produced in the region are highly contaminated according to laboratory examination carried out by the company sometime ago.
Disclosing this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr. Addae-Mensah noted that although some of the water itself might be contaminated, its processing, the equipment used and the environment where the water is produced could negatively affect its potability. He said some of the water is bagged directly from hand-dug wells which, is not treated with residual disinfectant, a process carried out to get rid of bacteria in water, adding that most of the producers are not even aware of such processes.
The Chief Manager said, although his company at first hand checks on the water to be produced on request by a producer to determine its potability, the Ghana Food and Drugs Board (GFDB) has the sole responsibility to issue certificate, inspect the environment where the water is being produced, the equipment being used and the process involved, which, he said are necessary for the production of safe water. Mr. Addae-Mensah therefore suggested the periodic inspection of areas where these sachets water is produced and constant laboratory test by officials of GFDB to determine its safety for consumption. He, on the other hand described water treated and distributed by his company as highly safe for consumption and meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) requirement, adding that apart from disinfecting the water at the head-quarters to eliminate bacteria, residual disinfectant is also added to the treated water to prevent post contamination during distribution.
Mr. Addae-Mensah added that after distribution, samples are also collected from different areas of distributions points to conduct further test to see whether it has enough residual disinfectant. He assured residents that his company carries out hourly checks on the treated water being distributed to determine its safety and appealed to consumers to use water wisely because it is treated at a great cost. The Chief Manager added that his outfit will soon add hand-outs on how to manage water to consumer bills to sensitize them on how to manage water because water is finite.
Source:
GNA
Ghanaian peacekeeper commended for bravery
Accra, 28.03.2007, GNA -
The Former Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Alain Pellegrini, has expressed appreciation for the high level of professionalism exhibited by Captain Aaron Osei of the Ghana Battalion serving in Southern Lebanon.
Capt Osei was commended for his show of bravery under extreme conditions of physical and mental strain during the 34-day war from July to August 2006 between Hezbollah and Israel, a statement issued in Lebanon by the Ghanaian Battalion and made available to the GNA in Accra said.
The statement said Capt Osei on numerous occasions exhibited exceptional bravery and valour as on 14 July 06, the village of Marwahin came under heavy Israeli bombardment, resulting in the death of 19 children and two adults who were fleeing the village in a mini bus. Capt Osei led ten of his men to stay in the village overnight to be close to the populace as a human shield and as a reassurance measure amidst heavy and close Israeli artillery and air strikes, until the village was evacuated.
Again on 25 July 06, Capt Osei led a crew of six men through very heavy shelling and air strikes to a UN Position to rescue and evacuate two Lebanese Army Officers and five soldiers to the Force Headquarters. The statement said Capt Osei also led nine men on Thursday August 3, 2006 with three SISU Armoured Personnel Carriers to undertake a very daring operation to re-supply a UN position which was well cut-off behind Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) lines, and evacuated over 42 displaced Lebanese.
After the war, he was the first UN personnel to patrol previously unexplored and unseen; out-of-bounds Hezbollah strongholds within inaccessible valleys and presented pictorial evidence as part of his patrol reports.
The statement said Capt Osei in clear disregard for his life and through the demonstration of courage, resilience, will and very good sense of thought and decision-making effectively commanded and controlled his men in the face of absolute danger and life threatening situations and saved hundreds of Lebanese and expatriate lives. A citation accompanying the Force Commander's commendation, read by the Commanding Officer of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Ghanbatt 65, Lieutenant Colonel E W Kotia, mentioned Capt Osei's display of outstanding professionalism and sense of commitment in his capacity as Officer Commanding Ghanbatt Battalion Mobile Reserve during the war.
It said the officer displayed exemplary sincerity and rare qualities of head and heart, remaining calm and composed under conditions of extreme physical and mental strain and carried out his assigned tasks to the Force Commander's satisfaction. "He was an example worth emulating by his peers and subordinates," the citation said.
The citation said that it was due to the performance of such officers that greatly facilitated the work of UNIFIL in implementing its mission during those extremely difficult days.
The statement said Lt Col Kotia after presenting a certificate of commendation to Capt Osei on behalf of the Force Commander, expressed his sincere appreciation and happiness for the recognition given to the officer and added that it confirmed the difficult role Ghana played during the 34-day war.
Lt Col Kotia added that the recognition should motivate all officers and men of the Battalion to continue to work very hard to support UNIFIL's efforts in trying to bring lasting peace to Southern Lebanon.
He commended Capt Osei and his entire Battalion Mobile Reserve for bringing such honour to the whole of Ghana and the Ghana Armed Forces.
Lt Col Kotia, the statement said, advised all Ghanaian troops to remain professional and continue to raise the Flag of Ghana very high. The Medal Presentation Parade was also used to Celebrate the 50th Independence Anniversary.
A delegation from Ghana led by The Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral A R S Nuno, Mr Michel Haddad, Ghana's Consul General to Lebanon and Commander M M Tahiru, Ghana's Defence Attache in Egypt attended the ceremony.
Source:
GNA