The Deputy Minister of Power, John Jinapor, has defended the proposed 25-years power deal with two-year old company, Early Power Limited, that will see the construction, fueling and maintenance of a 400 megawatts power plant.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Eyewitness News<\/strong>, Mr. Jinapor also stressed that, the deal, estimated to cost US$ 953 million, should not be seen as an emergency plant as it was the result of a planned assessment.<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”G6OwobKQxBU2mirtWacFhvuiv67ymuO4″]He explained that \u201cfollowing Seth Terkper\u2019s supervisory role of the power\u00a0Ministry, we set out to do a proper assessment of one, our generation capacity, our current power needs, and a projection, a five year projection in order to determine what we will require in terms of generation.\u201d<\/p>\n “…by the time this project is complete, it ties into our demand projections so I think that it makes a lot of sense and it is a prudent decision we have taken,\u201d Mr. Jinapor added.<\/p>\n The Deputy Minister further argued that \u201cyou don\u2019t do an emergency plant for over 20 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Deal was initially an emergency option<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Jinapor however admitted that, this deal was initially conceived as an emergency solution to the country\u2019s power troubles.<\/p>\n He however noted that, it was eventually restructured in a move that increased the capacity of the proposed plant but also the cost.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was conceptualized to be an emergency plant. Following the work we did, we decided that we stretch and so yes, the title which went to cabinet was titled an emergency plant but when it went to cabinet again, we reduced the price, increased the capacity and added on a combine cycle which increased the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n