Govt is embarking on total renovation in power sector, 1963 transformers & pylons are being changed – Owusu-Bempah
According to Ernest Owusu-Bempah, Deputy Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Akufo-Addo administration is now executing comprehensive reconstruction works in the electricity sector across the country.
Some of the transformers, he said, are worn out and are being replaced. Likewise, several pylons are being replaced.
This, he stated, will undoubtedly be felt in the electricity supply, but only in the near term. ‘Dumsor,’ there is no power struggle in his eyes.
“We are doing a total renovation of the power sector value chain. When you look at certain pylons, when you go to the Ashanti region, a lot of the pylons bringing power from other parts of the country into the Ashanti region are being changed.
“Most of the transformers in this country have major problems, 1963 transformers, 1970 transformers are being changed. Obviously, it is going to affect the power sector but there is nothing like dumsor happening in this country that Mahama wants capitalised so that he can get political advantage and use that against us,” he said while replying to former President John Dramani Mahama who had indicated that the government is returning the country to the days of severe power crisis.
However, Owusu-Bempah stated that key interventions implemented by the Akufo-Addo administration upon taking office in 2017 eliminated dumsor.
For example, he stated that the Mahama administration did 98 million cubic feet of gas flow at the Atuabo Gas Plant, while the Akufo-Addo administration is now doing around 150 million cubic feet.
As a result, he expressed astonishment that the NDC and its flagbearer, former President John Dramani Mahama, are criticizing the government for the current power outages in sections of the nation.
“I feel a little bit surprised to hear from a former President who supervised an erratic power supply for a period of 4 years. For four years the whole nation saw how the country turned dumsor yet he has the effrontery to tell the people of Ghana that he has the solution and that we don’t have a solution to the problem, he should bow his head down in shame,” he said.
He added “The major intervention introduced by the NPP government resolved the Dumsor. First, Ghana Gas, the gas flow Atuabo processing plant, we were doing 98 million cubic feet when the NDC was in power, today we are doing almost 150 million cubic feet. Apart from that the ENI, Sankofa gas contract that they signed became one of the most expensive gas contracts in the world, 10 dollars per MMB Cude was signed by Mahama himself.
“We had no choice but to combine Sankofa, Jubilee, and Tweneboa Enyenra Ntomme (TEN) oil fields. Today we did what we call Sanzule tie in and we are flowing almost 350 million cubic feet to Aboadze.
“Today, we have done what we call reverse flow, Mahama could not do the reverse flow. Today, we are pushing gas to the eastern enclave supplying our thermal plants in the eastern enclave of the country giving them about 250 and 300 megawatts of generation.
“The Kar Power that he brought into this country that is milking the country, today we are pushing gas there which is also giving us almost 400MW of electricity.”