Ghanaians to spend Christmas in darkness if...

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December 19, 2015 10:23 AM

VRA owes Ghana Gas $187,447,742.44 for 21,568,820.7005MMBtu of lean gas supplied to the VRA between November 14 to date.

The Ghana Gas Company is likely to compound Ghana's current energy crisis come Christmas day due to its inability to supply lean gas to power VRA's 220MW thermal plant in the Western Reigion.

This was revealed to the Parliamentary select committee on Mines and Energy, citing expired facility insurance and a faulty compressor that needs replacement, both of which it has no funds to do.

According to the report to the parliamentary select committee, it will cost GHC10.5 million to renew the insurance and replace the faulty compressor. The Gas Company says it cannot afford the costs because of huge monies owed it by the Volta River Authority.

Meanwhile former VRA boss, Dr. Wireko Brobbey has taken a swipe at government's disregard for the need to put together a proper strategic plan to provide fuel to power the country's installed energy generation capacity.

" Ghana's major energy problem is not a lack of installed capacity. It is a problem of poor fueling strategy. Government is making a mistake buying installed capacity instead of power. A better deal in the Karpower deal, for example, should have paid for Karpower to produce power for the country and not pay for a mere installation and then look for money ourselves to fuel it."

Speaking on Accra- based Citi FM's Big Issues on the specific issue of VRA's indebtedness to Ghana Gas Company by the VRA, Dr. Wireko Brobbey has asked government to borrow from the international market to pay for all the debt.

" I have always said that government should borrow just as it has done for the Eurobond to go for some international funding to pay off all these complicated debt in the power generation sector. I am sure if you ask Ghanaians what they will prefer most, whether government should continue spending petroleum revenue on capacity building for jobs that are not available and branding metro mass buses, or we should spend it dealing with our power problems, I'm sure they will choose the latter."

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