<<Print>>

President Mahama says the creation of the Ministry of Power was to attract investors into the power generation sector. He said the new ministry will provide a 24-hour electricity supply and also ensure that Ghana achieves its electricity generation target of 1,500 megawatts before the end of 2017. The creation of the Power Ministry by President Mahama has been widely criticized as some are claiming that it is not the solution to Ghana�s energy problem. A statement signed by the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani announcing the creation of the Ministry said, the �President expects the new Ministry to bring about a sharper focus on the generation, supply and efficiency of power to match the growth the economy is experiencing.� Institutions managing Ghana�s power sector including the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Volta River Authority and the Ghana Grid Company have been struggling to meet the nation�s energy needs. This is due to the reducing level of water in the Akosombo dam. The gas project which is also expected to augment the generation is yet to fully kick start. President Mahama speaking on a pre-recorded interview on Metro TV�s Good Evening Ghana show defended the creation of the new ministry explaining that it is a strategic move to lure more investors into the country. �People are making investment decisions, where to invest in West Africa based on the availability of power. If we don�t put ourselves out there to be the major power hub in this sub-region we will lose investment to Cote d�Ivoire and as Nigeria continue to get its acts together in terms of its power supply we will lose investment to Nigeria,� he said. He added that: �So we need to take action that will ensure that the power sector is having a 24-hour focus of a minister and a ministry behind it to ensure that the objectives that we have set ourselves to achieve 5,000 megawatts are realizable.� When asked when the 5,000 megawatts targets will be realised, President Mahama said �We�ve signed MoU with General Electric which will bring 1000 megawatts. Collectively between Senet, Asogli and all the others we are talking about another 1,500 megawatts. When the Kpone plant comes on stream, we should get another 200, 300 megawatts. We were planning for the end of 2016, that was the target but I guess we will scale over, most of these plants I believe should be ready by 2017.�