Conference on financing power underway in Accra
A two-day international conference on the effective financing of power has opened in Accra.
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The conference, attended by participants from Ghana, Nigeria, the Philippines and Georgia, is aimed at strengthening public-private partnership (PPP) in the African electricity sector.
Dubbed ‘Strengthening public-private partnership in the electricity sector,’ it is being organised by the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA).
Conference objectives
The objective of the conference is to stimulate discussions between public and private-sector participants and also to share perspectives on concrete means of promoting effective PPPs for sustainable electricity supply.
The Minister of Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, who opened the conference, called for public-private partnerships (PPP) in the production and distribution of power.
He said the country was gradually moving towards a private sector-led power generation and distribution as the state played a regulatory role to ensure equity, fairness, consumer protection and national development.
Dr Donkor added that the government would continue to partner the private sector to run an efficient power sector in the country.
While posing the question whether the state should continue to be the sole provider of electricity locally, Dr Donkor advised the participants to be mindful of the fact that PPP was not a panacea for all public investment needs.
Power crises in Ghana
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MiDA, Ing. Owura K. Sarfo, in an address, said the Ghana Compact II programme under MiDA was aimed at curtailing the current power problem in the country.
He said one of the components of the programme was to allow private sector participation in the management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), therefore, the conference was timely as there was the need to build the capacity of players in the industry for an effective PPP to take place.
Mr Sarfo stressed that electricity was a critical ingredient in the economic development of any country, adding that there was a long-term relationship between the economic growth of a country and electricity consumption, particularly in the industrial sector.
The Country Manager of IFC, Ms Ronke-Amoni Ogunsulire, in an address said all around the world, PPP was playing an increasingly important role in the government ‘s effort to bridge infrastructure gaps to help deliver better services.
She said when properly designed, PPP could be effective in improving the quality and reliability of electricity supply.