{"id":234037,"date":"2016-07-25T16:19:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T16:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=234037"},"modified":"2016-07-25T16:19:10","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T16:19:10","slug":"govt-has-paid-30m-of-140m-wapco-debt-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/07\/govt-has-paid-30m-of-140m-wapco-debt-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov’t has paid 30m of $140m WAPCo debt – Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Petroleum Minister, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has said that Ghana has paid 30 million dollars of the reported 140 million dollars it owes\u00a0the\u00a0West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo)<\/p>\n
The company indicated in June 2016, that it had cut supply of gas to Ghana over the failure of government to pay its bills.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”FH1HwDEE9myKgMMgXQ89bCFZTU75g1i2″]There have been suggestions that recent power cuts are as a result of Wapco’s decision to cut gas supply to Ghana.<\/p>\n
However, Armah Kofi Buah, speaking after the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, presented the supplementary budget to parliament on Monday, dismissed those assertions.<\/p>\n
According to him, the recent shortfalls in the supply in gas from Nigeria, was not as a result of non-payment of debts, as government had initiated payments to the company.<\/p>\n
“We had an issue with debt with Wapco; we were able to sit down with them in Abuja, we have a payment plan with the committee of ministers. The initial payment was 50 million, we\u2019ve already done a plan, we\u2019ve paid thirty million and we are making more payments. The issue is not payment. There\u2019s no issue today with Wapco. We have a challenge and we are dealing with it. No excuses; but it\u2019s a fact that we have had pipelines blown up in Nigeria,” he told Citi Business News’<\/strong>\u00a0Vivian Kai Lokko.<\/p>\n