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| Mr Darku (r) and Mr Leclerc exchanging the agreement |
THE Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) yesterday signed a $174 million non-sovereign credit facility to support the financing of the installation of the 503-kilometre 330 voltage ampere (kV) Kumasi-Bolgatanga transmission lines.
The project, being co-financed by the World Bank, would also involve the construction of intermediary sub-stations in Kintampo and Tamale.
Under the project, a 40-kilometre kV transmission lines would be installed under the Ghana-Ouagadougou interconnection programme.
The projects are expected to increase the transmission capacity of the national grid by reinforcing it to ensure reliable transfer of power within the network aimed at improving service delivery.
It is also expected to reduce transmission losses and also increase Ghana’s capacity to be a net exporter of energy to the West African Power Pool (WAPP) countries in the Sahelian regions.
Additionally, GRIDCo signed a $4.8 million grant from the Africa-European Union (EU) Infrastructure Fund to finance preparatory studies.
The amount would also cater for the project management, engineering and construction supervision and consultancy services.
The facilities are the highest financing ever approved by the AFD in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony, a deputy minister of Energy in charge of power, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, indicated that the transmission sector had over the years witnessed little development.
“It is in this light that GRIDCo was established to enhance the transmission of power by ensuring sustainable power provision,” he said.
According to him, Ghana’s quest to become a net exporter of power by 2015 informed the government’s decision to expand facilities as part of strategies to expand reliable and affordable modern energy services for households and businesses.
Alhaji Fuseini expressed the hope that when completed the project would reinforce the Ghana Power network programme aimed at improving service delivery in the sector.
The Resident Manager of the AFD, Mr Bruno Leclerc, for his part, said that reforms carried out by the Ghanaian government in the energy sector since 2006 to date informed the AFD’s decision to finance the project.
In that regard, the agency, he said, in 2011 alone approved three financing projects for the Volta River Authority (VRA) retrofit project of the Kpong Dam.
He indicated that the Kumasi-Bolgatanga transmission would allow Ghana to be a key player in the energy market and also strengthen regional integration between the country and Burkina Faso.
“We are very positive that the project will also impact the development of the three northern regions by increasing capacity and improving the quality of electricity to better stimulate growth in the agro-business and industries in those regions,” Mr Leclerc said.
He said the AFD considered the project as key in its strategy and activities in Ghana and expressed confidence in GRIDCo and the government to ensure universal access to electricity supply by its teeming population.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GRIDCo, Mr Charles Darku, indicated that the project, under the first phase of the Inter-Zonal transmission hub programme of the WAPP, was another milestone in the company’s aggressive re-engineering programme to modernise and expand the Ghanaian transmission network.
“We also want to increase power the transfer capacity of the network, especially from the south where most of the generation plants are located in the north,” he said.
Mr Darku also announced that the Mallam Substation upgrade project being carried out to double the transformer capacity was nearing completion.
Representatives from the EU, the French Government and other development partners witnessed the signing ceremony.
SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Fri, Aug 18, 2012
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