The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, intends to initiate discussions with the Government of the United States of America for another Ghana Power Compact Program. His desire follows the successful completion of the program referred to as Compact II, which ended in June this year.
“The real issue now for me is COMPACT III. I am due to travel to America soon, and I intend to raise it at the highest levels…,” he remarked.
He expressed the thought on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, when the Board of the implementation agency, the Millenium Development Authority (MiDA), called on him at Jubilee House to present a formal report on the implementation of the programme.
Compact I and II sum up to about US$900 million; grants which had seen the nation benefit from infrastructure developments. The first compact was about US$547m, and the revised Compact II funding following the termination of the concession agreement was US$347m.
NEW COMPACT
The President congratulated the Board which took office in March 2017 and was charged with overseeing the implementation of the Compact II.
He said that the infrastructure projects that came out of the arrangement were those that were of immense benefit to the nation, particularly in the power sector.
At a time when Ghana was looking at developing its aluminium and bauxite resources, lots of energy would be required, the President argued, adding that interventions like the compact were key.
President Akufo-Addo was happy to hear of the successful completion of the previous compact, a development he believed set the tone for discussion on a possible third one.
According to him, considering how the first compact, whose arrangement started under the presidency of Kufuor for Ghana, gave the country a good name and the just ended one, it would not be out of place to initiate a third deal.
“…I know we had this temporary glitch with the relations over ECG and PDS, but anyway, that is already behind us. We are hoping that the American administration will also understand that that is behind us and see the possibility of us sitting around the table to construct a new compact,” he noted.
The President opined that the various elements that constituted the requirements for the compact idea continued to be very present in Ghana.
He believes that there was every reason for Ghana to be interested if such an idea which was still on the table in Washington, particularly with the economic transformation agenda of the Akufo-Addo government.
MiDA
Briefing the President, the Chairperson of the Board of MiDA, Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, happily reported that the Authority had achieved a lot.
She said that by the end date, “all projects retained and prioritised for implementation had been completed, commissioned, and handed over to the beneficiaries, which included ECG, GRIDCo, Ghana Standards Authority, Energy Commission, PURC, Ministry of Education, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, University of Ghana, KNUST, and University of Energy and Natural Resources, amongst others.”
PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN
Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu informed the President that the projects undertaken under Compact II included the following: two bulk supply points at Pokuase and Kasoa; providing 1,015-mega volt amperes (MVA). There are two primary substations with interconnecting circuits at the 37 Military Hospital, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, and the University of Ghana Medical Centre.
Also, a refrigerator and air conditioner testing laboratory for the Ghana Standard Authority; a low voltage bifurcation projects in six districts of ECG’s Accra East and West sections. In addition, ECG has been provided with a state-of-the-art metre management and geographic information system to support their efforts aimed at loss control and improve profitability.
Then there is the replacement of street lights, and refurbishment of 528km of selected streets in 20 MMDAs in Greater Accra. The was retrofitting of seven major government buildings in the ministries including interventions at Korle Bu and the University of Ghana.
She indicated that all the compact funds, including some US$31 million provided by the government of Ghana as counterpart funds, were fully utilized.
Yesterday was the last day of the contract, and so all MiDA staff contracts also ended, but MiDA has been approached by the finance ministry to take up the role as coordinator of one of the economic activities under the Ghana Cares Obaatan Pa programme, so a few staff have been maintained, and additional staff will be recruited.
ABOUT THE POWER COMPACT
It was designed to introduce reforms into Ghana’s power sector while providing some much-needed power infrastructure assets.
The four projects comprising the Compact Program are: ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project; Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project; Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Project; Access Project.
