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NDC blames the government for the
country's energy crisis
Accra, April 4, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC)
on
Wednesday said the energy crisis the country was faced with
now stemmed
from the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) reversal of all the
important steps
that the NDC initiated in the energy sector.
And by so doing, the NPP did not add a single megawatt of
power generation capacity to the energy supply system.
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, Flag-bearer of the NDC told
a press conference in Accra that the depletion of the
Akosombo reservoir to a precarious level of 237.78 feet, was
due to the directive to enable VALCO be in operation to
satisfy President John Agyekum Kufuor's claim of
establishing an "Integrated Aluminium Industry"
He said the current energy situation was due to government's
decision to force the Volta River Authority (VRA) to sell
power to the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) far below its
average cost of production.
This situation had put the VRA in a serious financial
distress and hardly able to meet its commitment and that the
President should be personally held responsible for this.
The press conference, which is to present the views of the
NDC on the current electricity crisis in the country brought
together top party members including Mr. Alban Bagbin,
Minority Leader, Mr. Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam, Dr. Kwabena
Adjei, Chairman of the Party and Dr Kwame Ampofo, MP for
South Dayi and an Energy Expert.
Professor Mills said apart from a period of incredible
mismanagement of the VRA, its resources also went into an
unproductive venture like the Strategic Reserve Plant on
which more than 35 million US dollars were wasted without
justification.
He said President Kufuor's promise that the country would be
getting electricity from Nigeria would not materialize
adding, "we all know the scale of the problems that Nigeria
has with their power system; how can anyone seriously look
to electricity from Nigeria to solve our crisis."
He said issues in the energy sector required a sober
analysis and clear plans of action and that members of the
NDC were prepared to put their expertise on the management
of the energy crisis to alleviate the suffering of the
people.
He said the NDC established institutions like the Public
Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the Energy
Commission to reform the power sector and allowed the
private sector to contribute to the generation of power.
He said the deployment of emergency energy power supplies to
augment the distressed national power system must be done
bearing in mind the most cost-effective solutions.
Professor Mills said decisions about the management of the
Akosombo Dam must not be influenced by expediency and
short-term political calculations and also agreements in
respect of the West African Gas Pipeline project should be
finalized with the country's objective in mind.
He said there was the need to modernize the facilities with
reference to energy efficiency before the next phase of
operations and that no untested projects should be embarked
on in desperation.
He called on Ghanaians to appreciate the enormity of the
problem and help to conserve energy where and whenever
possible.
Dr Kwame Ampofo on his part called for the provision of a
prepaid meter to all energy consumers to enable them to pay
the right tariffs for the power they consumed.
GNA
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