Former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, highlighted the critical role the Volta River Authority (VRA) played in the 2015 agreement with\u00a0AMERI, for the provision of a 250 MW power plant in the heat of the country\u2019s power crisis, when he appeared before Parliament\u2019s Mines and Energy Committee on Friday.<\/p>\n
Testifying before the committee, he said the VRA was the technical adviser to the Ministry, and the custodian of the asset on behalf of the State.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”fIDhEIJc0j9S9nTb6i4lIZyMEJfSOUus”]The application for tariffs, which were set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, was made by the VRA “as the lead agent of the State,” Dr. Donkor also noted.<\/p>\n
\u201c…therefore, from the very first meeting in Doha [in the United Arab Emirates], the Chief Executive of VRA was present. The VRA therefore, had a major role to pay, even though the government negotiation team as a whole took collective responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
“They [the VRA] furnished the ministry and followed up to the committee to brief the committee on how much it was going to cost if we had the resource and were to construct the plant ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The issue of\u00a0tarrifs\u00a0has come up in the past,\u00a0with some\u00a0staff of the VRA saying they are behind\u00a0$11.5 million losses being incurred by the VRA monthly.<\/p>\n
The plant has a tariff of 15 cents per kilowatt hour, but the same power is sold to the Electricity Company of Ghana at a cost of 5 cents per kilowatts hour, leaving a deficit of 10 cents per kilowatts.<\/p>\n