A statement signed by his aide, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, clarified that, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana Research Station Guest House, “has been in existence since 1975.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”HXWuUzY5rGvMM4Hez7CaX0yezDLw3zzP”]The statement also described the accusation by the COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, as falling into “a regrettable pattern of false and inaccurate information.”

Mr. Boahen Aidoo was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday to respond to allegations of mismanagement of the cocoa sector by the Minority in Parliament, where he leveled a number of allegations against the Mahama government.

“The penchant to siphon funds through inflated contracts was rampant in the NDC-Opuni administration through ill-conceived construction contracts in the cocoa sector. These contracts were awarded without proper value for money analysis, bringing into question the motive for the contract for instance, to construct a guest house at Bole in the Northern Region, which was needless at the time it was awarded. President John Mahama was said to have influenced the awarding to enable him enjoy a comfortable holiday during his visit to his constituency,” he said.

But Mr. Mahama’s office contends such claims are “intended to slander the former President as a way of covering up bad management practices and decisions identified and highlighted by the NDC Minority in Parliament about the country’s cocoa sector.”

“Such an unwholesome practice will only serve to detract from the important business of managing the Cocoa sector which is the lifeblood of the Ghanaian economy,” it added.

Focus on task at hand

The office thus urged Mr. Boahen Aidoo “to pay greater attention to discharging the weighty responsibility entrusted to him devoid of unnecessary partisanship and mudslinging.”

It also defended the decision to renovate the guest house saying: “a decision by the Board of COCOBOD to renovate the facility, after many years of use cannot be needless, and does not require the influence of the President of the Republic, as he then was.”

Find below the full statement

CRIG Guest House was built in the 70s, not for Mahama

The Office of Former President John Dramani Mahama has learnt of a number of claims by Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Joseph Boahen Aidoo, at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday.

Among others, Mr. Boahen Aidoo stated that President John Dramani Mahama influenced the award of a contract to construct a guest house at Bole in the Northern Region to “enable him enjoy comfortable holidays during visits to his constituency.”

For the avoidance of doubt, the Office of the Former President wishes to state that this claim is false.

The guest house in question, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) Research Station Guest House, has been in existence since 1975, and could not possibly have been constructed during the tenure of President Mahama. The assertion therefore that he influenced its construction is also false.

The Station conducts research into Shea nut and Cashew, to boost production of these two crops in the Brong Ahafo, Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions that constitute the Northern Savannah zone.

Also, the CRIG Research facility includes the guest house that has always provided commercial accommodation services to officials of COCOBOD and any other person that requires its use.

A decision by the Board of COCOBOD to renovate the facility, after many years of use cannot be needless, and does not require the influence of the President of the Republic, as he then was.

The Office of the Former President has noted a regrettable pattern of false and inaccurate information put out by the Chief Executive of COCOBOD  intended to slander the former President as a way of covering up bad management practices and decisions identified and highlighted by the NDC Minority in Parliament about the country’s cocoa sector.

Such an unwholesome practice will only serve to detract from the important business of managing the Cocoa sector which is the lifeblood of the Ghanaian economy.

The Office wishes to encourage Mr. Boahen Aidoo to pay greater attention to discharging the weighty responsibility entrusted to him devoid of unnecessary partisanship and mudslinging.

SIGNED

Joyce Bawah Mogtari

Special Aide to HE John Dramani Mahama.

Thursday Nov., 02, 2017.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Fred Asamany, believes that the lack of vision in the leadership of this country is the primary reason for the mediocre state of the electricity and all stakeholders must get together to work on the deficit.

“Energy in all its forms is the engine of growth in any economy and all our past and present leaders, with the exception of Kwame Nkrumah, have tinkered with this issue without any clear cut initiatives from our leaders to solve this problem.”

According to him, Ghana needs about 12500 megawatts of electricity to industrialize. However, the country has only 2884 installed capacity with the current production around 1313 megawatts.

“As at 28^th July 2014 the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844 MW however the available capacity is only 1313 MW yet we require 12,500 MW to industrialize.”

Ghana requires 500 watts/capita to take a significant step towards industrialization, equivalent to 12500 MW  (population of 25million x 500 watts).

Currently the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844MW.  The deficit for industrialised status is therefore approximately 9700 MW. Generation infrastructure is approximately $1.5m per MW. Ghana therefore needs to invest $14.5bn to come up to speed.

On the management of the electricity sector, he says “as long as VRA/ECG/GRIDCO are run as purely civil service organizations, we cannot expect anything better from their financial operations. We must introduce private sector management attitudes into their operations.”

Click here to read a full analysis of Ghana’s power sector.

By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana must increase power per capita to industrialize – Expert appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ghana Power Compact invests up to $498.2 million to support the transformation of Ghana’s electricity sector and stimulate private investment. The five-year compact is designed to create a self-sustaining energy sector in Ghana by reforming laws and regulations needed to transform the country’s power sector and catalyze more than $4 billion in private energy investment and activity from American and global energy firms in the coming years.

The MCC will make an initial investment of up to $308.2 million, including funding to put the Electricity Company of Ghana, the country’s main distribution company, on a sustainable path, help the utility meet current electricity needs and upgrade infrastructure to reduce outages and improve service. A second tranche of up to $190 million in funds will be made available if Ghana accomplishes a set of reform targets set forth in the compact.

Even though this is welcome news, some players in the industry believe beyond the MCC, Ghana needs to do a lot more to secure the energy sector in the long term.

Currently, only about 1313 megawatts of electricity is produced by the various plants, which collectively have an installed capacity of 2884 megawatts.

Click here to read more about Ghana’s power sector

The Atuabo Gas Project is expected to provide lean gas to generate about 550 megawatts of power, and provide 75% of the natural Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) needs.

Ghana currently has an energy production target of 5000 megawatts by 2015. However, for the nation to industrialize, the energy per capita has to be increased to 500 watts per capita from the paltry 53watts per capita. This means that the nations strategic production target must be around 12500 megawatts, a target that requires billions of dollars to achieve.

The questions, therefore, are:

1. Are Ghanaians being told the actual state of the energy sector?

2. To what extent would the current the plans being executed mitigate the problems?

3. What is the way forward?

Fred Asamany, a leading power plant developer in Ghana, believes that power  is the most important factor in Ghana’s development.

According to him, “if you look at the economic history of industrialized countries, it is palpably obvious that the underlying driver of economic activity is power.”

He shared his perspectives on the Citi Breakfast Show Thursday August 7.

Below are his perspectives on Ghana’s power sector, in a question and answer format.

WHAT IN YOUR VIEW ARE THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS TO POWER AVAILABILITY, RELIABILITY AND STABILITY?

Lack of vision in the leadership of this country is the primary reason for the mediocre state of the electricity sub-sector.

Energy in all its forms is the engine of growth in any economy and all our past and present leaders, with the exception of Kwame Nkrumah, have tinkered with this issue without any clear cut initiatives from our leaders to solve this problem.

Perennial under-investment
The lack of an implementable master electricity sector blue print backed by a credible investment plan over the years has resulted in weak and out-dated main systems, sub-systems and processes that should otherwise guarantee a high degree of system reliability and stability.

Lack of an entrepreneurial culture
The public utilities in the power sector such as VRA and ECG run purely as civil service organizations. These organisations have hoards of talented people who are well educated but are not challenged to drive businesses as entrepreneurs would. Accountability is weak and status matters a lot and there are very little productivity or incentives targets set for the civil servant who will of course be paid regardless of performance. Lack of performance does not result in any sanctions because by and large you are employed to serve your term.

Availability inadequacies
Availability relates to the actual MWe (megawatt energy) that can be generated and made available for distribution to consumers at any point in time…It is different from the capacity of generation that is installed…As at 28th July 2014 the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2844 MW however the Available Capacity is only 1313 MW yet we require 12,500 MW to industrialise.

Reliability characteristics
The System is controlled to stay within acceptable limits during normal conditions;
The System performs acceptably after credible Contingencies;
The System limits the impact and scope of instability and cascading outages

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN VRA/GRIDCO & ECG?

As long as VRA/ECG/GRIDCO are run as purely civil service organizations, we cannot expect anything better from their financial operations. We must introduce private sector management attitudes into their operations.

The unbundling or disaggregation of transmission (GRIDCO) and distribution (ECG) from VRA was a very good idea. However the businesses are closely interdependent on each other for successful operations and quality of service…ECG relies on VRA and a small number of IPP’s for its generation. Without adequate generation ECG cannot physically supply all the electrical power needs of its customers..Currently there is not enough available generation capacity to meet the load requirements of ECG….Its a complex matrix of issues.

CONCERNS HAVE BEEN EXPRESSED ABOUT THE PSP CONDITION IN THE MILLENNIUM COMPACT AGREEMENT; WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON PRIVATE PARTICIPATION IN THE POWER SECTOR? WHICH ASPECTS OF THE POWER SECTOR COULD BENEFIT FROM A PSP?

The passionate argument should be about establishing exceptional levels of uninterruptible service delivery of electricity to customers.

The Private Sector already works with ECG and the power sector throughout the value chain and the sector should capitalise on best practices and standards that can be imported from Private Sector Participation to achieve the desired levels of service required.

The injection of an entrepreneurial culture and commercial imperatives in the power sector is a sine qua non and can only be achieved by introducing some elements of organizational systems, culture, reward systems, processes and technologies that are more prevalent in the private sector. In this respect the 100% shareholder, GoG, should reduce its influence in the policy and decision making of these organizations whilst retaining a significant minority interest.

Private Sector Participation could support the following areas:

Establishment of a Credible Wholesale Offtaker
Creation of Power Park Infrastructure
Provision of Securities and Guarantees Backstop

Distribution
Distribution Franchises
Sub-Station Infrastructure
Long Term Service Agreements (Management and Technology)
SCADA Systems
Metering and Revenue Collection
Prepayment Systems

Transmission
Pre-financing of Substation Upgrading and Expansion
SCADA Systems and New Technological Upgrades
Long Term Service Agreement
Capital Spare Parts

Generation
Public Private Power Projects
Development of Power Parks
Operations and Maintenance
Long Term Service Agreement
Capital Spare Parts
Repair Centres
Gas to Power Infrastructure

HOW MUCH POWER DOES GHANA NEED TO INDUSTRIALIZE AND HOW CAN WE ATTAIN THAT POWER GENERATION LEVEL?

Ghana requires 500 watts/capita to take a significant step towards industrialization, equivalent to 12,500 MW (population of 25m X 500 watts).

Currently the installed generation capacity in Ghana is 2,844MW. The deficit for industrialised status is therefore 9,700 MW approx…Generation infrastructure is approximately $1.5m per MW therefore we need to invest $14.5bn to come up to speed. This is the scale of the challenge.

The solution for that level of generation required for industrialization is a systematic 200 year plan that is defined in a generation blue print that all governments will adhere here. This blue print must be driven from the Office of the President and not the bureaucratic Ministry of Energy.

GoG infrastructure fund, SSNIT and Industry must provide the seed funding to plant the required generation assets annually through building a minimum of 1000MW industrial power park complexes sponsored by GoG at a time. On completion the assets can be offloaded to private investors or through the equity stock markets.

GoG then gets its cash investment for the next round of planting. This is implementable and must be led by local content and not external agencies and will guarantee that the assets are put on the ground..The traditional route of project finance frameworks for investing in the power generation sector results in almost 10 years on average to build one power plant.

Global Comparisons of Industrialised Countries (Country Watts/capita)
USA – 3,170
Europe – 1,700
Malaysia – 813
South Africa – 900
Ghana – 53

HOW CAN GHANA GAIN MAXIMUM BENEFIT FROM THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE PROGRAM?

The MCC program will not result in a dramatic transformation of the sector that Ghana requires. Millennium challenge may give the sector a head start but is not sustainable unless it is back loaded by a credible programme of activities and investments when the MCC is over, that fits into a master blue print for the electricity sector created by Ghana for Ghana.

The millennium challenge program must allow the electric power industry to build on Local content capacity to manage all aspects of power generation, transmission, distribution and O&M. Locals investors must understand this industry and invest in it.

Throughout history there is no country in this world that has been developed to industrialized status by another country. We must do it ourselves!!!

By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana’s power sector, perspectives of an expert appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.