Ghana Electrometer (GEM) sole producers of Electricity metres will soon outdoor its ultra-modern production plant for the production of more quality metres.
The facility which is about 98 per cent complete would produce both post and pre-paid metres not only for the Ghanaian market but also serve a number of West African countries including Togo, Cote d� Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
In an interview with the Ghana news Agency in Accra, Mr Obed B. Solomon, Director of Operations and External Relations at GEM said the facility which was ISO certified would bring into fruition the company�s plan to expand its frontiers to reach a lot more consumers in Ghana and elsewhere.
Though Mr Solomon could not immediately give the cost of the construction of the facility, he said it had taken the company three years to complete, adding that GEM in partnership with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which is the sole customer of its products had already completed a pre-pilot project in Kumasi and would start with the actual pilot this year, possibly in April.
�Although the company has been working in the production of metres since 2004, we now have a commitment to excellence in production and service delivery, and therefore GEM is investing its resources in the installation of modern equipment and gadgets especially with the introduction of the new SMART-G metres,� he said.
So far, Mr Solomon said the company had supplied more than 35,000 credit metres and 440,000 prepaid metres in communities including Tema, Adenta and and Dodowa all in the Greater Accra Region.
Briefing the media earlier, Mr Duke Nelson, Director of IT and Projects at GEM said when the pilot project was successfully completed; GEM�s introduction of the SMART -G cards would help the ECG and the government together to raise revenue for national development.
Mr Nelso described the cards as a novelty and unique, because it had special features that made it more user friendly no matter the user�s location.
For example, he said among other things, they allowed consumers to track their consumption, reduced the risk of tampering with the metre and would make it difficult for unregistered people to tap power unlawfully.
The company which is the only supplier of electricity metres in Ghana has a workforce of 300, 125 of whom are in the factory and one per cent expatriate staff.
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