06 December 2014, Accra — Ghana’s Volta River Authority (VRA) is set to improve its power generation capacity following receipt of a whopping $450 million from Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), an official has said.
VRA Chief Executive Officer, Kirk Koffi, confirmed that out of the funds, $150 million would be readily available in the country in January 2015 for the purposes of boosting Ghana’s power generation efficiency as well as assist the power utility convert its short term loans on its balance sheet to medium term.
“We need to add on more thermal generations and it takes more money to fund thermal generations,” he said, adding that “because of the current bad status of our balance sheet, it’s good that we do this,” Koffi said.
He said the outstanding $300 million would also be available in January for the purposes of boosting power generation at the main generator.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Afreximbank Executive Vice President, Dr Okey Oramah, said Africa’s demand for more energy was a testimony to the growing middle class.
He said the amount his bank signed with VRA would go a long way towards alleviating crippling electricity shortage in the country.
Ghana, which is struggling with power scarcity coupled with load-shedding, seeks to address the energy crisis, which is bearing the brunt of manufacturing, processing and mining industrial sectors.
The Ghana Chamber of Commerce warned that continued isolation or turning blind eye to energy crisis would force the industry retrench thousands of people, a move that would see unemployment rocket in the West Africa’s second largest economy.
*Russell Adadevoh – Cajnews
