President John Mahama has refuted assertions that Ghana is economically lagging behind the Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
According to him, the UN Human Development Index puts Ghana second to only Cape Verde in access to portable water, and other human indicators used to measure progress in the West African sub-region.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Good Evening Ghana with Paul Adom-Octhere, President Mahama stated that Ghana\u2019s economy is still the second largest after Nigeria, hence can\u2019t lag behind the Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not lagging behind Ivory Coast. I normally don\u2019t like to compare but we definitely are not lagging behind the Ivory Coast. If you take the UN Human Development Indicators, aside from Cape Verde Ghana is second in the whole of West Africa in terms of water, in terms of all the various human indicators,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Citing more indexes to defend his stand, President Mahama maintained that Ghana\u2019s economy cannot lag behind the Ivory Coast when it is estimated to be the second largest in the sub-region.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the relative stability of the Ivorian electric power situation compared to the erratic power situation of Ghana, President Mahama stated that every country has gone through such situations in the past, hence the development is not new.<\/p>\n
\u201cIvory Coast has gone through its own period when they didn\u2019t have light. We\u2019ve had to exchange power at times when they don\u2019t have power. We have given them at times. When don\u2019t have they give us, and so it\u2019s not something new,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that the most important thing is how government has worked to fix the power situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur economy has grown very fast that demand for power has ballooned and we have not been consistent in putting in enough generation to meet demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The president stated that the Akosombo Dam which used to support the entire nation as well as exported power to the Ivory Coast and Togo in the past could no longer feed the nation as demand increased.<\/p>\n
\u201cI normally don\u2019t want to place blame, I took responsibility to fix it and I do believe that we are going into an energy security where we will suffer no light out,\u201d he assured.<\/p>\n
He was optimistic \u00a0that with the coming onboard of the Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) project which will add seventy million cubic feet of gas to the national grid, Ghana\u2019s energy security will be further entrenched.<\/p>\n
He stated that by 2018 the ENI project will also commence gas production, putting Ghana\u2019s total gas production at three hundred million cubic feet which can produce 2,000MW power.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Lawrence Segbefia\/citibusinessnews.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President John Mahama has refuted assertions that Ghana is economically lagging behind the Ivory Coast. According to him, the UN Human Development Index puts Ghana second to only Cape Verde in access to portable water, and other human indicators used to measure progress in the West African sub-region. Speaking on Good Evening Ghana with Paul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":245861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[121,32,171],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n