President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday said the government would have to increase energy production by 200 megawatts annually to satisfy the demands of Ghanaians and neighboring countries.
“Exactly a year ago, the energy demands for Ghanaians was 1,600 megawatts, but today as we talk here, Ghana’s energy demand is 1,920 megawatts indicating the production of over 200 megawatts will be appropriate,” he said.
President Mahama said this when Madam Elizabeth Maria Josepha Ploumen, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, led a business delegation to call on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.
The Dutch Minister who is in the country with a 50-member business delegation would among other things deepen bilateral and investment relations with Ghana and strengthen regional security.
President Mahama said Ghana had the comparative advantage in energy production for both domestic consumption and for export to neighbouring countries.
In that respect, he said, the government would strengthen relations with countries like the Netherlands that has the expertise in renewable energy.
“The Netherlands has enormous experience in green technology, which Ghana will be ready to tap into for the generation of more power for Ghana and her neighbours.”
President Mahama said the government would also forge relations with the Netherlands in the area of transportation especially in the development of ports to become more efficient.
The President said Ghana was in competition with Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin and Nigeria and therefore development of the country’s ports would not only increase the trade volumes, but would also become more attractive to other business entities even outside Ghana.
“We know the Netherlands has expertise in transport area and we need to learn from their port system and other sectors of transportation to find alternatives to the road sector that has become dominant over the years,”President Mahama added.
Ms Ploumen said the Netherlands government had set aside 700 Euro for the development of Small and Medium Term Enterprises in their country and developing countries like Ghana.
She said the Netherlands government was now interested in moving her relations with Ghana from aid to trade hence the business delegation to prospect investment avenues in the country.
The Trade Minister said although a lot of Dutch businesses were already in Ghana, the delegation would also explore other areas that could be of mutual benefit to the parties.
The Minister of Trade and Industry , Mr Haruna Iddrisu, gave the assurance that his outfit would forge the necessary arrangement with them to achieve high development cooperation.
Source: GNA