EXPORTATION OF POWER TO IVORY COAST CONTRACTUAL-VRA

The Volta River Authority, V.R.A. says the decision of government of Ghana to export hydro power to the country’s neighbours is contractual rather than a volition. 

According to the V.R.A., Ghana is bound by the agreement the government of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah signed with the United States for credit facility to build the Akosombo hydro electric dam on the Volta Lake in the 1960s. 

An officer at the Corporate Communications Unit of the V.R.A., Madam Bellona-Gerald Vittor-Quao, disclosed this at a forum in Kumasi. 

She was responding to concerns raised by some of the participants at the forum wondering why Ghana should export part of its energy to particularly Cote d’Ivoire, when the country does not have enough for domestic consumption.

 In her response, Madam Vittor-Quao stressed that Ghana would not have been able to access the U.S. credit facility for the Akosombo hydro dam if the then government had not made certain concessions to make part of the hydro power produced from the dam available to the Cote d’Ivoire. 

She disclosed that Ghana currently exports about 500 mega watts of electricity to la Cote d’Ivoire. 

That agreement, she explained also allows that country to in return, lend power to Ghana anytime la Cote d’Ivoire has enough power when Ghana is in need.   

Notwithstanding that agreement, Madam Vittor-Quao noted that exporting part of her meager power to the neighbouring countries is in the true spirit of brotherliness.

 She therefore appealed to Ghanaians to bear with the situation especially as everything possible is being done to generate enough energy for local consumption.