Tamale airport drawings ready

THE architectural drawings on the upgrade  of the Tamale Airport into an international flight has been completed.

According to the Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, government was sourcing for funds to undertake the project.
She told the Daily Graphic that the facility, which had been designed to contain a Hajj village, runway and terminal, would be constructed at the cost of $150 million.

“The project will also contain  facilities to store pineapple from the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), project, ” she said.

Ms Attivor stated that the airport, beyond providing a respite for Hajj pilgrims to directly fly from the Northern part of the country to their destinations, when completed, would also operate as a hub for sub regional flights.

“The idea is also to ease pressure and congestion at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) due to the increasing number of international flights and passengers would ease marginally,” Ms Attivor stated.

 The deputy minister further stressed that government’s decision to ensure the project became a reality formed part of a strategy to decentralise certain important facilities especially in Accra.

She was of the hope that the heavy traffic associated with the KIA, which had seen major airlines flying into the country and diverting to other neighbouring countries, would become a thing of the past, as Ghana would be able to accommodate more airlines.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic,  Mon April 18, 2012

Govt challenged to make VALCO operational

AN energy consultant, Dr Goosie Tanoh, has challenged government to ensure the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) becomes fully operational.

According to him, VALCO stood the chance of potentially generating over $460 million in revenue annually, in view of the fact that aluminium was selling at $2,300 per ton on the world market.

“It is easy, therefore, to see the immediate financial gains Ghana can enjoy from a fully powered VALCO,” Dr Tanoh said.

He also threw a challenge to the government to tackle problems that had plagued the energy sector and develop realistic and systematic approaches that would solve the problems once and for all.

Dr Tanoh was speaking at the energy dialogue session on the second day of the ongoing Third Ghana Policy Fair.

The session, on the theme, “Meeting Ghana’s energy needs, current status and preparations for the future” brought together stakeholders in the power, petroleum and gas sector.

Dr Tanoh said if the company was made fully operational, it could provide  over 15,000 direct and indirect employment in the aluminium sector.

He said with the country’s population expected to increase to 29 million in 2015, demands in electricity consumption and usage were likely to swell above its expected growth rate.

Dr Tanoh was of the view that the erratic development of communities required that institutions responsible for power transmission and distribution ought to have adequate logistic capabilities to resolve power delivery problems.

“It, therefore, behoves on government to follow the example Nigeria, to make a gradual progress towards decentralisation of major government entities in the provision of power,” he said.

He said energy delivery was still fraught with disruption, while implementation of policies in that direction had also been slow.

He called for an intensified campaign to encourage investments in renewable energy by engaging independent power producers (IPPs) to partner metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), to achieve the government’s target of integrating 10 per cent of renewable energy into the power generation sector by 2020.

The energy minister, Dr Joe Oteng Adjei, who delivered a paper on the government’s energy policy initiatives, announced that the Energy Commission has started a pilot programme on energy efficiency refrigerators.

That he said was in line with the new regulation framework geared towards ensuring that refrigerators being imported into the country complied with the new law.

He said the government had put in a place a comprehensive programme meant to make sure some 200 megawatts capacity of power was added to the national total capacity annually.

“The annual consumption growth demand of 16 per cent has spurred us to make investments in the sector to consolidate growth,” Dr Oteng Adjei said.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, April 17, 2012

Third Ghana Policy Fair opens today

THE third Ghana Policy Fair to showcase government’s policies, projects and programmes opens today.

About 150 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) will participate in the five-day fair on the theme: “Building together in a better Ghana”.

Participating MMDAs would showcase completed and ongoing projects in their jurisdictions over the last three years.

The opening ceremony is expected to be performed by President John Evans Atta Mills.

A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, told the Daily Graphic that this year’s dialogue would focus on the economy, energy, youth development and the creative industries.

According to him, the creative industries the world over had become a major contributor to economies such as United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK) and India, among others.

He said some 106,700 businesses in the creative industries were created in the UK in 2011, representing 5.1 per cent of that country’s gross domestic product in that year.

“We, as a government, believe that this feat is equally possible, hence the decision to include them in the dialogue sessions this year,” Mr Ablakwa said.

The creative industry in Ghana, he said,  was also becoming a dependable form of employment for all manner of people, as against the traditional areas of employment, hence the need to make it one of the priority industries.

Also, dialogue session on family education is expected to be part of highlights of the fair. A renowned marriage counsellor, Rev Dr Samuel Kissiedu, is expected to provide an insight into family life education.

Mr Ablakwa expressed  the hope that the general public’s participation and contributions at the various sessions would offer meaningful suggestions to the government on ways to improve its activities and development programmes.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Mon, 16 April,  2012

Energy Commission destroys incandescent bulbs

Fifty-two thousand and five hundred pieces of incandescent bulbs were yesterday destroyed by the Energy Commission in line with its energy efficiency regulation.

The action was part of  moves by the commission to enforce a ban placed  on the importation and sale of incandescent bulbs.

Some of the bulbs were seized from two companies in Accra while others were taken from another company at Agona Swedru in the Central Region.

Incandescent bulbs consume high levels of energy.

The items were destroyed in the presence of officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) at Oblogo landfill site in Accra.

Briefing journalists later, the Technical Director of the commission, Dr Nii Darko Asante, said the seizure and destruction of the bulbs were in line with the commission’s energy efficiency regulation, LI 932 of 2008.

Dr Asante said as a result of limited energy resources, there was the need to ensure energy conservation and protection.

He warned that the commission would ensure a full implementation of the regulation banning the importation and distribution  of used refrigerators by  the end of the year.

“We expect to re-enforce the ban with effect from January 1, 2013, to save the country from high energy consumption,” Dr Asante said.

He was of the hope that the enforcement of the ban would save the country an annual revenue of about $33 million.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Fri April 13, 2012

Govt backs out of STX housing deal, steps underway to to recover assets

Mr E.T Mensah

THE government has initiated moves to pursue STX Korea for the recovery of all government’s investment in the company, as well as assets it provided for the execution of the abandoned STX housing project.

It has also decided to repossess, with immediate effect, all lands allocated to the company for the housing project.

In this regard, the Attorney-General has been directed to carefully study details of the STX contract and give advice on claims that the government could make out of the deal.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, announced this at a press conference in Accra yesterday.

The STX housing project, which had been expected to provide some 30,000 housing units for the security services, encountered setbacks as a result of disagreements between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners after the government entered into an off-taker agreement with STX Engineering and Construction for the commencement of the project.

The project was to be implemented in three components and financed by a concessional facility of $1,525,468,000 secured with a sovereign guarantee by the Ministry of Finance.

The contract, signed in 2009 and reviewed in 2010, was at the time expected to be the biggest investment made by the government in the housing sector.

On January 27, 2011, President John Evans Atta Mills, at an impressive ceremony, cut the sod for the commencement of the project at the Tesano Police Training School, which was designated to be the first beneficiary institution with 1,980 housing units.

Ten long months after that ceremony, the project was still fraught with problems resulting from the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners engaging in a turf war over ownership and control.

The financial and partnership differences led to a consequent mistrust between the two partners, leading to a string of court actions over counter-accusations of fraud and forgery against each other.

Although the minister would not state publicly how much the government had invested in the defunct project and whether the entire contractual deal would be abrogated, he said steps were being taken to reposess the 15 sites which were made available to the company for the construction of the houses.

According to him, the government had since set up a housing project management committee to review all proposals on housing and come up with clear guidelines and criteria for selecting potential investors.

That, he said, would allow the committee and the Ministry of Finance to undertake due diligence before any further dealings.

“The ministry has so far received and reviewed 40 proposals, out of which four have been identified as credible, and the ministry has initiated negotiations with them for the construction of affordable houses for government workers,” Mr Mensah said.

He said since STX had breached the terms of the contract between the two parties, and in view of the importance the government attached to the project by facilitating a series of mediations between the two contending parties to no avail, it was forced to take appropriate steps to protect the interest of Ghana.

“In situations where there are no options open to the government, it cannot allow a single entity which cannot put its act together to hold the nation to ransom,” he reiterated.

Mr Mensah said the government would pursue all available options to ensure that the sovereign interest of Ghana was not compromised in any underhand dealings.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Thur April 12, 2012

Former Minister want MTTU boss probed

Nii Armah Ashiete

THE immediate past Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, would today (Wednesday) present a petition to the National Security to investigate an alleged act of verbal assault on him by the Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), ACP Angwubutoge Awuni.

 Mr Ashietey, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Klottey Korley Constituency, will also present a copy of the petition to the Minister of the Interior.

He was reported to have physically prevented people from registering at the MTTU polling station on suspicion that they were resident in the Odododiodoo Constituency, which is separated by a street from the Klottey Korley Constituency.

The former minister is also contemplating an independent legal action against the MTTU boss, for ordering a physical assault on him.

Mr Ashietey was said to be on a collision course with ACP Awuni last Friday, when he allegedly interfered with the biometric registration exercise in his constituency.

An allegation the former minister has since denied.

According to Mr Ashietey, his decision to petition the Interior Minister and the National Security was informed by the manner in which he was arrested and mistreated for allegedly disrupting the process.

ACP Awuni, who was reported to have used abusive language on the minister, said he was forced into that action when his order to Mr Ashietey to vacate the scene was not heeded.

The situation created by the former minister, ACP Awuni said, halted the registration process for an hour, following the chaotic situation that resulted from the conduct of the former minister.

“Mr Ashietey’s refusal to vacate compelled me to order my men to force him out of the place,” ACP Awuni told an Accra-based radio station in direct response to Mr Ashietey’s accusation of physical assault.

According to the MTTU boss, Mr Ashietey’s threat to get him dismissed, might have forced him to lose his temper and that he had since apologised to him.The former minister, who said he felt disgraced and humiliated by the act, said he would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Wed April 11, 2012

Epileptic Power Supply - renewable energy must lead the way

THE Country again experienced a nationwide blackout on Wednesday, March 21, the third in a row after similar occurrences on January 28, and February 26, this year.

The recurrence followed a similar trend in the past resulting from the conduct of load shedding exercises by the three power providers, the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

While such incidents were said to be the result of malfunctioning equipment, the recent occurrence was said to  have resulted from inadequate generation reserve margin to take care of emergencies in the event of collapse.

The country’s energy requirement keeps increasing with an increase in population and economic activities, however, supply in recent times on the other hand had become epileptic in nature.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s post independence struggle foresaw demands for electricity demand especially when Ghana embarked on industrialisation as a development strategy, and therefore set up the Akosombo generating station and the VRA.

In realisation of the provision of sustainable energy for development, Ghana as well became the first sub-Saharan African country to establish a National Nuclear Research Institute and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).

Fifty years down the line, the dam has however proved to be inadequate in catering for the country’s energy needs.

For this reason, the Aboadze plant was established in 1997 to provide extra 330 megawatts of power to support national demand.

Additionally, the Bui Power project is expected to come on stream in 2013 to provide additional 400 megawatts to the country’s total national demand.

 Whereas successive governments have paid lip service in terms of commitment pledges, little action have been seen on their part.

While, the Atomic Energy, for example could strengthen the power generating sector by turning uranium into a source of power (nuclear power), little commitment has been showed in that regard.

As a result of under-investment,  most of the machinery in operation are obsolete, while initiated projects remained stagnant with no hope of resurrection.

While Ghana’s economy has grown significantly in the past 20 years, the country’s overall energy production has remained under capacity.

Although, political leaders are willing to take a general policy direction to forestall failure of power systems, their decision making have  however been reactionary.

Bureaucracy and dishonesty, resulting in acts of alledged corruption on the part of managers of the three providers have as well made it difficult for transmission and distribution networks to deliver reliable power to more than the over one million of customers on its transmission networks.

With consumption growing at 10 to 15 per cent per annum for the last two decades and a projected average demand, consumption of electricity is expected to reach 10,100 gigawatt hours (GWh) by the end of 2012, which have been described as below the country’s total national power demand which has increased astronomically.

Even though government’s commitment in the area of capital injection into the operations of power producers and distributors had been minimal and sometimes non-existent, managers of such entities have also created  a messy atmosphere laced with ineptitude in the administration of these institutions.

Ironically, while consumers were made to endure total blackouts resulting from load shedding exercises, the spillways of the Akosombo Dam were often opened to spill excess water  anytime it rose to about 277 feet.

That was to ensure limitations in the water level, only for consumers to be made to suffer from the consequential decisions taken by the “competent” engineers and managers.

Erratic power supply does not only go to over-burden industries and manufacturing firms, but also have dire consequences on the country’s total economic output, thus making us retrogress, when we are supposed to progress.

Security implications as a result of nationwide blackouts could also not be ruled out.

With the emerging oil industry which has brought to the fore the need for more energy, the situation calls for a search for an alternative source of energy.

Countries such as Denmark, Norway, Canada and others have learned their lessons, transforming their energy markets and setting out to lead the way in renewable energy resources.

Ghana on the other hand ,has  in abundance,  a huge concentrated heat source,  but little has been done in that regard as an option to complement the country’s power demand.

Already, government officials have started singing the lip service song of renewable energy likely to form 10 per cent of the country’s energy generation by 2020, as provided in the Renewable Energy act.

The question is,  why do we have to wait until 2020 to realise the 10 per cent fraction, when oil production which began some 14 months ago has brought to the fore the need for more energy, resulting from excessive pressure on existing facilities?

At 55, Ghana is expected to wait for an additional eight more years for better investments in clean and renewable energy power generation, of which we expect to reap a 10 per cent result.

Neighbouring Nigeria, over the last decade has been battling unreliability in its electricity industry.

In the case of Ghana, could recent occurrences be tabled at the doorstep of political leadership’s failure or the lack of interest in a sector that has become  a money making tool for some countries across the world.

Ironically, we go to seek the expertise of such countries, fly personnel down, and pay them huge incentives to develop and install solar panels, all  at the cost of the tax-payer, when we could have adequately built the capacity of the numerous human resources at our availability from the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Atomic Energy.

Political leadership must rise up and exploit the country’s natural resources that could lead a crusade for  an alternative source of energy for developmental needs.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Tue April 3, 2012

Emergency power reserve proposed to stem total blackout

AN emergency power reserve has been proposed by three electricity providers to forestall the recurrence of nationwide blackout.

A technical report on the proposed power reserve has been submitted to the Ministry of Energy by the providers —  the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

A senior official of the ministry who spoke to the Daily Graphic said the power reserve would be managed by the VRA and released to GRIDCo and ECG in  the event of a shortfall in power supply for transmission and distribution.

Following the nationwide blackout on Wednesday, March 21, 2012,  Dr Oteng-Adjei directed the three power providers to investigate the circumstances that led to a string of nationwide blackouts since January, this year.

They were also required to outline strategies to forestall future occurrences of nationwide blackouts.

According to the official,  the report also recommended the speedy repair works on the components of the VRA plant at Aboadze that had not been functional, a situation which had created a deficit of 100 megawatts of power in the system.

The country has experienced three major blackouts since January this year.

The VRA recently announced publicly an end to the month-long load-shedding exercise which was prompted by the shortfall in gas supply but has again resorted to the exercise due to technical challenges.

The Public Relations Manager of the VRA, Ms Gertrude Koomson, reacting to the continued load-shedding exercise, however, told the Daily Graphic that  the exercise  was meant to ease pressure on VRA’s equipment.

“We expect the ongoing works at the Takoradi Thermal 3 project to be completed by June, this year to add 132 megawatts of power for supply,” Ms Koomson said.

“The completion of the Bui Dam will also enhance the country’s generation capacity,” she said.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Mon April 2, 2012

Five injured in gas explosion

FIVE metal fabrication technicians sustained severe injuries when a newly constructed underground fuel tank on which they were working exploded at Bubuashie in Accra.

The incident, which occurred at the annex factory of Metal Craft Engineering Limited at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, happened moments after the five had filled the tank with oxygen to test for leakage.

An eyewitness, Mr Rudolf Odoi Yemmo, told the Daily Graphic that the explosion threw the welders into the air, with one landing on the roof of a nearby church.

According to him, the company suspected that the gauge on the tank was faulty, a situation that prompted the explosion when it was being filled in readiness for the leakage test.

Two of the injured, whose names were given as Benjamin Kuwornu, 27, and Kofi, were treated and discharged at the Cocoa Clinic, while the others, who are said to be in critical condition, are currently on admission at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

Kuwornu, who sustained deep wounds on his right eye and parts of his hands, was undergoing an X-ray scan at the Cocoa Clinic when the Daily Graphic visited the hospital.

When the Daily Graphic visited the factory at 11: a.m. yesterday, production activities had been suspended, while Alsatian dogs had been positioned in the yard to ward off intruders.

A careful observation of the premises revealed that house-keeping at the fabrication points was poor, with unused ferrous scrap metal pieces scattered all over.

Officials of the company were, however, tight-lipped and would not comment on the incident when the Daily Graphic team visited the main office, located about 500 metres from the scene of the accident.

The Station Officer at the Darkuman Police Station, Inspector Isaiah Mawuli Adiku, confirming the incident, said company officials were yet to file a formal complaint with the unit.

“Although we have visited the scene to conduct preliminary investigations, we are waiting for the company officials to formally file an official complaint to allow us to conduct an intensive probe into the incident,” he stated.

SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Wed March 28, 2012