Grid extension project to 130 communities inaugurated
Switzerland is in the process of signing a $21 million energy agreement with Ghana to help improve the energy sector in the country.
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The Switzerland Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gerhard Brugger, who made this known, said: “I can guarantee that we will help transform the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) into what we will all come to call a truly customer-responsive, efficient and profitable organisation.”
Mr Brugger gave the assurance when he inaugurated the grid extension project to 130 communities in the Central Region. It was supported by Switzerland.
The $6.6 million project is expected to connect 10,000 households to the national grid.
“Our excitement is not only based on the fact of what we have achieved with the amount we pledged but the fact that we used the Ghanaian procurement system and thus achieved real value for money,” he said.
Mr Brugger said there was an agreement with the government to transform the ECG.
He said that vision had already begun to manifest with a test project in Kumasi to align the Swiss government strategy to the government’s power sector reforms where ECG would be spilt into Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and run by Ghanaians.
“This is to demonstrate the capability of the technical staff of ECG that given the right working conditions, they will excel.”
On the prospects of the project, Mr Brugger expressed the optimism that it would generate economic activities and improve the lives of majority of Ghanaians.
The Managing Director of ECG, Mr Robert Dwamena, said the electrification project was part of the platform to eradicate poverty in the area.
He recalled the bond of friendship between the two governments, which dates back to the era of independence, and expressed the hope that the relationship would be sustained.
He stressed the commitment of ECG to ensure that quality was not compromised as it worked to render services to its numerous clients.
Mr Dwamena underscored the need for residents in the beneficiary communities to make use of the opportunity by establishing businesses in order to transform lives and that of their communities.
He also urged them to pay their electricity bills promptly to support ECG to get the needed revenue for expansion and other activities.
The Board Chairman of ECG, Daasebre Kwebu Ewusi VII, stated the government's commitment to addressing the electricity challenge confronting the country, saying, "government is not oblivious of the power challenge."