Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Agyapa Mensah has disclosed that about 10 million US Dollars has been paid to the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCO).
According to him, the said payment was made on the 10th of January, 2024 because there had been an earlier notice from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAPCO)to cut power on the 29th of December, 2023 which was then extended to the 2nd January, 2024 as well as 5th January until the 9th of January, 2024 when they stated that their services were going to be withdrawn.
The Deputy Energy Minister attributed the delay in payment to a hold-up in payment approval by the Ministry of Finance which had led to power outages across Ghana as observed for the past days.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM and monitored by ATL FM NEWS, Andrew Agyapa emphasized that services have been restored and that there will be no more power outages as a result of gas supply.
“As far as I know, concerning the outage that we experienced two days ago, services have been fully restored. I don’t have any indication from the systems control centre that is manned by GRIDCO that there are any further outages as a result of lack of gas transportation services”, he assured.
Meanwhile, the ranking member of the Energy Commission, John Jinapor, has disagreed with the Deputy energy minister’s assertion that there is currently a load shedding of about 500 Megawatts.
He further raised concerns as to whether the government of Ghana can be taken for its word since they have failed to keep its word since July last year.
“This is not the first time we are experiencing this challenge so it’s not as if it’s a new phenomenon. They told us what honourable Agyapa is listing. They have told us they’ve made tier one, and tier two. I’ve seen letters where WAPCO severally reminded government of his failure to meet the terms of the agreement reached earlier and even a letter that gave a final caution that we’re going to shut the pipeline”, he bemoaned.
For some days now, Ghanaians have lamented over the frequent unscheduled power outages with many taking to social media platforms to express their distaste over the situation.
This has left many Ghanaians with the fear that frequent power outages popularly called “Dumsor” experienced many years ago may have crept its way back into the nation.
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Source: Flora Tang/ATLFMNEWS
