A former Deputy Energy Minister, KT Hammond says he fully agrees with the World Bank\u2019s assertion that Ghana\u2019s energy challenges will worsen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [power situation] is bad, it is bad\u2026<\/span>everything I hear points to the fact that it\u2019s not getting any better,\u201d Mr. Hammond said on Eyewitness News.<\/strong><\/p>\n A senior energy specialist at the World Bank Ghana Office, Sunil Matrani\u00a0in an earlier interview with Citi News<\/strong> pointed out that with low rain levels and delays in the completion of planned power projects, Ghana\u2019s power situation is set to worsen.<\/p>\n In July 2013, the World Bank released a report on the country\u2019s energy and petroleum sectors.<\/p>\n They subsequently advised government to improve upon the technical and efficiency of utility providers with particular attention on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).<\/p>\n On Eyewitness News<\/strong> on Wednesday, Mr Hammond stated that despite the Presidents\u2019 numerous assurances to Ghanaians that the power crisis will soon be resolved, \u201cthings are not going to get any better; they are going to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n The Adansi Asokwa Legislator made reference to the Volta River Authority\u2019s (VRA) statement that it is unsure when the power situation will be resolved and so the current erratic power supply will go on for a while.<\/p>\n Mr. Hammond agreed that the failure of Nigeria to supply Ghana with adequate gas is a huge contributing factor to the energy crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cOne would have thought that if we had the full complement of it [gas from Nigeria], it will go a long way to solving some of the problems so I concede that we are not getting that lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The former deputy Minister was however<\/span> quick to add that the excuse of low supply of gas from Nigeria is \u201cneither here nor there.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained saying, \u201cat a point in time when the Kufuor administration was experiencing negotiations for the construction and the completion of the West African Gas pipeline, we did not have one drop of gas from Nigeria, yet, we produced enough electricity in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n The Minority Spokesperson on Energy indicated he has no sympathies for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and charged them to deal with the situation because \u201cwe [Kufuor government] did it when we didn\u2019t have it [gas from Nigeria].\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding the delayed completion of power projects like the Aboadze thermal plant, Mr. Hammond said the thermal plant \u201cis bedeviled with fundamental difficulties and sooner or later, we are going to go to the Supreme Court on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n He disclosed that the project although<\/span> is of paramount importance to<\/span> Ghana, it has no Parliamentary approval and \u201cthe Supreme Court says that for it to pass the test of validity, that contract agreement has to go to Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Hammond asked, \u201cwhat is NDC government<\/span> afraid of, what are they running away from\u201d in their failure to present the contract to Parliament.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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