Delay In Fixing Broken Gas Pipeline Costly For Ghana - Veep

Vice President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, on Friday added his voice to calls for the immediate repair of the damaged West Africa Gas Pipeline to restore the transportation of gas to power the generation of electricity in Ghana. He said the failure to quickly fix the pipeline has reduced the generation of electricity by 200 megawatts, forcing Ghana to rely on more expensive, but less efficient crude oil to power electricity. The Vice President made the call when Energy Ministers and chief stakeholders in the West Africa Gas Pipeline, led by Ghana�s Energy Minister, Dr. Oteng Adjei, paid him a visit at his office at the Flagstaff House, in Accra. The visit, which was to seek what they called his �directive support� comes ahead of the meeting of the Energy Ministers and other stakeholders from Nigeria, the main supplier of gas to Benin, Togo and Ghana, the three beneficiary countries of gas from Nigeria under the West Africa Gas Pipeline. The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAGPCo), operator of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), in August declared a force majeure on its gas operation as a result of vandalized pipelines in Lome, Togo. The pipelines were shut in August after the Togolese Navy informed the company of a cross fire that ensued between the Navy and a suspected vessel that was seen around the anchorage of the Lome waters in August this year. Ghana is yet to realize full supply despite assurances from company that it would resume full operation of gas supply to its clients before end of the year. President Mahama, during a recent visit to Nigeria appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to use his influence to get the pipelines back into operation. He stressed that it was important to repair the pipeline to ensure continued flow of Nigerian gas to Ghana and other countries utilizing the gas for electricity generation. Vice President Amissah-Arthur expressed disappointment with the delay, which he said had attracted cynical comment from some quarters. He urged the Energy Minister to find a way to fix the problem, stressing need for cooperation among the participating countries to guarantee a solution.