Oil and Gas Analyst, Kwame Jantuah has impressed on both the governing NDC and incoming NPP government to work to avert any load shedding regime early next year.
He argues that the impact of another round of load shedding will be disastrous for businesses.
Kwame Jantuah’s comments follow concerns by some industry players of a possible resumption of load shedding early 2017.
Speaking to Citi Business News, Mr. Jantuah warned that the situation is likely to recur if Ghana fails to address critical issues on the maintenance and constant fuel supply to the country’s generation plants.
“One of the major things that I tend to look at is the kind of maintenance culture that we’ve got as a country; if any of the generation plants breaks down and we do not have a reserve margin that can help us keep the electricity going on, we will return to dumsor. This is also dependent on how long it will take to fix whatever machine has broken down, how much money we have to buy fuel to power the existing plants,” he remarked.
The African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has warned of a likely resumption of load shedding or dumsor in the first quarter of 2017 due to concerns of gas insecurity.
In a report released ahead of the 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections dubbed “Beyond 2016 Elections: Energy Sector Priorities”, the energy think tank cautioned of serious distortions to power supply in the face of the inadequate gas supplies.
ACEP further pointed out that the new administration must tackle as a matter of urgency challenges in the power sector since power supply from the nation’s hydropower sources are still dim.
The Power Ministry has since dismissed such reports explaining that adequate measures have been put in place.
Mr. Kwame Jantuah who underscores the relevance of stable power supply to businesses also said the new government must strategize and prevent load shedding.
“Going into 2017 and 2018, a strong economy is what everyone will hope for; because if we have a strong economy, it will be able to withstand any shocks hit it.”
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
