Dumsor: Ghana Gas denies being responsible for worsened power situation
The Ministry of Power has explained that the worsened energy situation was as a result of a shutdown of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited.
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Many areas especially in Accra in the last two weeks have been experiencing 12 hours of power on and 24 hours of no power, with some areas going off for 48 hours.
A statement signed by the head of Public Affairs at the Ministry of Power, Mr Kweku Sersah-Johnson, on Tuesday said the current increase in the quantum of load shedding in the country has come about as a result of a shutdown of Ghana Gas at Atuabo.
This, the ministry said, was to enable the African Middle East Investment (AMERI) Power plant, which is to generate additional 250 MW of power when fully commissioned, to be hooked onto the gas supply system of Ghana Gas.
A statement from the ministry said engineers of both the Ghana Gas and AMERI were working round clock to complete the connection of the gas line and to ameliorate the recent further decline in power supply in the country and appealed to the public to bear with the situation, “as the gas line connection is expected to be completed soon”.
But Ghana Gas in a response has refuted the claims that it is responsible for the worsened energy crisis.
Spokesperson for Ghana Gas, Alfred Ogbamey, in an interview on Asempa FM said everything was being made to look like Ghana Gas was not working to expectation and hence the current energy crisis.
“It has become consistent that anytime there was an issue, Ghana Gas becomes the easiest target and sometimes we are told not to speak but it is becoming a problem and we felt we needed to correct the wrong impression created by the press release of the Ministry.”
He said based on a request from VRA for Ghana Gas to shut down between November 23 and 27 to allow them to do the tie in, they shut down, adding that to say Ghana Gas was responsible for the worsened crisis was “inaccurate.”
The country has been battling with electric power load shedding since late 2011, which has resulted in the collapse of some businesses and industries.
The Minister of Power Dr Kwabena Donkor has promised to fix the problem before the end of 2015 and has pledged to resign his position if he is unable to do that.