October 21, 2021
Welcome to this edition of the Industry Newsletter from BELA’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group. We hope you enjoy reading a selection of some recent topical business news concerning the energy and infrastructure sectors in Ghana.
Ghana’s President Upset By Eni’s Court Case In London
President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Akufo-Addo is upset by the decision of Italian oil and gas firm, Eni, to engage the International Tribunal in London, United Kingdom, to seek resolution of the impasse between them and Springfield E&P, a wholly-owned Ghanaian upstream player. “I’m still very upset that at the end of day, the matter that we were having discussion on has become the subject of notice of arbitration,” President Akufo-Addo said last Friday when he met chiefs in the Western Region at the Western Regional House of Chiefs during his tour of the region. The President said there had been several closed-door meetings to resolve the issue and, therefore, felt bad about the new development. Read more...
Government ponders special power tariffs for some industries
To address the high energy cost industry bears in the country, government is considering introducing special tariffs for some sectors in order to help them become competitive. During the Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition held in Accra, the Energy Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh stated that, his ministry is exploring the prospects of a special industrial tariff for sale of electricity and natural gas to strategic industries such as iron/steel, bauxite/aluminium, fertiliser and ceramics, among others, as these sectors will be key to taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Read more...
ECG Installs 10MVA Transformer To Boost Power Supply In Obuasi, Other Towns
Power supply in Obuasi, Ghana’s mining town and surrounding communities in the Ashanti Region, is expected to improve in the coming days due to some interventions by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). This follows the ECG’s transportation of a 10MVA transformer to Obuasi on Friday, September 3, 2021, to replace the existing 5MVA transformer to accommodate more power. The Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of ECG, Erastus Baidoo told energynewsafrica.com that ECG is investing a lot of money to improve power supply and reliability and, therefore, expects consumers to pay for the power they consume and not steal it. Read more...
Going nuclear will reduce cost of production – Nuclear Power Ghana
The Board Chairman of Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), Prof. Benjamin Nyarko, has said that adding nuclear power to the nation’s energy mix will push down cost of production, thereby leading to lower cost of goods and services. He added that the socio-economic benefits associated with adding nuclear power to the nation’s energy mix are enormous, emphasizing that the nuclear energy industry is an engine for job creation, as the operation of a 1,000-megawatt power plant will create employment for about 1,000 people. Read more...
Akufo-Addo Appoints Ameyaw- Cheremeh As Board Chairman Of Bui Power Authority
President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo has appointed the Member of Parliament for East Sunyani, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh as the Board Chairman of Bui Power Authority (BPA), Ghana’s second largest power generation company. Bui Power Authority operates a 400MW power generation plant on the Bui River in the Savannah and Bono Regions of the Republic of Ghana. The newly constituted seven-member board of BPA includes Samuel Kofi Dzamesi, Chief Executive Officer of the BPA, Salifu Sa-Eed, Nana Ama Tima Boakye, Paul Twum-Barimah, Dr Rebecca Acquah-Arhin and Mr Kwame Appia Kyei. Read more...
Extractive sector revenue: Ghana’s 19.3% far lower than African economies average of 50.9% – Report
Ghana’s extractive sector revenue as a ratio of extractive sector value addition of 19.3% is far lower than African economies average of 50.9%, a research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies has identified. Thus, the economic and policy think tank is calling for a relook at oil and mining agreements with producers to enable the nation benefit significantly from the sector and close the tax revenue gap. Read more...
Akufo-Addo cuts sod for reconstruction of €95m Tarkwa-Agona-Nkwanta road
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for reconstruction works to commence on the 66-kilometer road from Tarkwa to Agona-Nkwanta in the Western Region. The project, estimated to cost €95 million, would be undertaken by M/S Gabriel Couto-Rango Consortium and is expected to be completed in 36 months. The Tarkwa-Agona-Nkwanta route is usually referred to as the Inter-Regional Route 6 (IR6) under the Trunk Road System of the Ministry of Roads and Highways to connect the mineral and agriculture-rich towns in the Ashanti, Western North and Central regions to the Takoradi Port. Read more...
Economic transformation requires investment in key sectors of economy – Deputy Governor
Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari, the First Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, says economic diversification and transformation will require significant investments in infrastructure such as energy, transportation, telecommunications, oil and gas as well as mining and tourism. These investments, he stated, would be critical to boost the much-needed inclusive growth, drive development, and help alleviate poverty in the country. Dr Opoku-Afari said this at a public lecture in Accra on the topic: “Re-Thinking Development Financing: Macroeconomic Management When the Love is Gone”. The Ghana Beyond Aid Charter and Strategy Document estimates that Ghana’s infrastructure needs are about US$7 billion annually over the next 10 years. He said the country needed to define creative ways of delivering fiscal space for financing development to close the staggering infrastructure deficit. Read more...
2020 Africa Infrastructure Index Report: Ghana ranked 12th, 2nd best in West Africa
Ghana was ranked 12th out of 54 countries in the 2020 Africa Infrastructure Index Report conducted by the African Development Bank. The nation was also the 2nd best performing country in West Africa behind Cape Verde. The Africa Infrastructure Index Report covered transport, power, ICT as well as water and sanitation. For Electricity or Power Index, Ghana maintained its 18th position last year, but with an improved score of 7.74%. For the Transport Index, the nation dropped from the 14th position in 2018 to 16th in 2020, but with a better score of 11.5%. When it comes to ICT, Ghana maintained its 14th position, with an improved score of 26.6%. In terms of Water Supply and Sanitation Index, the country’s score of 78.9% placed it at the 13th position. Read more...
Sunyani Airport 94% complete – Transport Minister
The Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has indicated that rehabilitation and expansion work on the first phase of Sunyani’s airport, is near complete (94 percent), and would be opened for flights to resume operation by end of October. The Minister made these remarks on the floor of Parliament, in response to a submission on the impact of the closed airport on businesses in the Bono Region and other neighbouring regions. In March 2016, commercial airline operations to the Sunyani Airport were halted by the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), due to the poor nature of the airfield pavement (runway), among others. Consequently, the transport ministry through GACL, initiated a two-phase project to get the facility back in shape. Read more...
Eni sues Ghana in London over attempt to force unitization directive on their throat
Italian oil and gas firm, Eni, has filed a suit at the International Tribunal in London, United Kingdom, to challenge a directive by Ghana’s Ministry of Energy, asking them to unitise Sankofa offshore oil field and Afina oil block operated by Springfield E&P, a wholly Ghanaian upstream player. Read more...
Ghana not getting enough revenue from oil and gas -GRA
Mr. Dominic Narh, Assistant Commissioner of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the Commissioner General’s Office, has lamented that Ghana is not reaping enough revenue from the Oil and Gas industry as it should because local players in the industry lacked the skills and competencies in dealing with their foreign counterparts. He shared the sentiment when he delivered a public lecture on “Tax administration and domestic revenue mobilization in Ghana” at the University of Cape Coast. Read more...
Ghana government says it remains resolute and committed to nuclear power
Dr Robert B. M. Sogbadji, Deputy Director in-charge of Nuclear and Alternative, Ministry of Energy, has said that government remains resolute in its quest to include nuclear power to Ghana’s energy generation mix as a baseload and establishing and integrating nuclear power would help the country achieve its aim to be a net exporter of electricity in the sub-region. Read more...
Electricity tariff adjustment: IPPs, consumer groups fight ECG, VRA and others
The Independent Power Producers and other consumer stakeholders in the power sector are fighting the Electricity Company of Ghana, the Ghana Grid Company, Northern Electricity Company and the Volta River Authority, over a possible increase in electricity tariff. Whilst the stakeholders including the Independent Power Producers argue that the cost of electricity in the country is too high, compared to neighboring countries, ECG and the other power generation and transmission firms believe their cost of operations have gone up, warranting an increase in electricity tariff. Other entities such as the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Bulk Consumers and Distributors have also questioned the rationale behind the calls for electricity tariff adjustment. Read more...
Ghana to reverse land degradation with World Bank support
The World Bank approved $103.4 million for Ghana to reverse land degradation and strengthen integrated natural resource management in about 3 million hectares of degraded landscapes, working with communities of the Northern Savannah Zone and the cocoa forest landscape. The cost of environmental degradation in Ghana due to unsustainable use of land for agriculture, forests, and mining stands at 2.8 percent of national GDP (2017). The Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining project will focus on land-use planning for integrated landscape management and promote sustainable mining by helping formalize artisanal and small-scale mining. It will also support sustainable land, water, and forest management activities in the climate vulnerable target landscapes. Read more...
Akufo-Addo bans public institutions from allocating public lands
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed that, henceforth, no public institution should deal in or allocate any land without the explicit approval of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. The President stated this when he inaugurated a 25-member National Lands Commission at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, September 1, 2021. President Akufo-Addo pointed out that, the duty of the members of the National Lands Commission is to manage public lands. The President also charged the newly sworn-in members to aggressively pursue the digitization of the records of the Lands Commission, noting that “most of the reforms needed to build efficient land administration will be within our reach if we are able to move away from manual registration to digital registration.” Read more...
Ghana: Ban on construction of new LPG outlet to be lifted - Energy Ministry
The Government of Ghana is considering lifting a ban it placed on the construction of new Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) outlets in the West African nation. The Government of Ghana, through NPA, placed a ban on the construction of new LPG outlets, following a gas explosion at Atomic Junction which resulted in the death of seven people including a cameraman with Accra-based NET 2 TV. The ban has since caused discontent among marketers who claimed the move has stalled over US$600 million investment. In view of this, the country’s Ministry of Energy is expected to meet with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the downstream petroleum regulator in September this year, to finalise a Cabinet memo on the issue. Read more...
Ghana: ECG invests over GHS 980k to improve electricity supply reliability in Tema
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited in the Tema Region has invested GHC989,800 in some major projects in the first half of the year to improve electricity supply in its operational areas. The projects include the construction of a link between two of their main overhead sub-transmission cables which has now enabled the transfer of load from one feeder to the other in case of repair works, and to ensure continuous power supply,” Ing. Emmanuel Appoe, the Tema Regional Engineer of ECG, explained. Read more...
Gold Fields would consider joint venture to bolster output
The new CEO of Gold Fields, Chris Griffith said in an interview that Gold Fields would consider joint ventures, including for its key Ghana operation, to keep the miner’s output at the peak it expects to reach in three years’ time. In reference to Ghana, he stated that it could potentially involve working in future with Johannesburg-based rival AngloGold Ashanti to lower costs and improve productivity. Gold Fields’ Tarkwa mine is about 10 km from AngloGold’s Iduapriem operation. The combined output of Tarkwa and Iduapriem was about 800 000 ounces last year, which would have made it one of the largest gold operations in the world. Read more...
Pwalugu multi-purpose dam to be completed in three years
The Volta River Authority (VRA) has revealed that it will take three years for the Pwalugu multi-purpose dam to be completed. The $993 million project, which is expected to hold the water spilt from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, was to be completed in 15 months. The PRO of VRA, David Prah explained that President Akufo-Addo’s timeline was to prepare the site for actual construction which will begin in November 2021 and take three years to complete. Read more...
Real estate developers should be given dole rights to construct houses to resolve housing deficit - GREDA Executive Secretary
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) has highlighted steps that need to be taken to bridge the huge housing deficit in the country. Samuel Amegayibor on JoyNews’ The Probe Sunday, suggested that construction rights should be given to only real estate developers to ensure that the accommodation shortage is effectively dealt with. According to him, although Ghana should be building at least 100,000 units annually to deal with the situation, only 40,000 houses are built. Read more...
Invest in clay bricks for construction of affordable houses and roads - PEF to government.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Private Enterprise Foundation, Nana Osei Bonsu has called for investments into the clay brick industry to promote affordable housing and roads. Speaking at an investment forum on the theme “Empowering the Private Sector as a key partner in achieving Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the era of COVID-19 and beyond, Nana Osei Bonsu added that building with clay brick reduces the impact of natural resource consumption and offers enormous temperate control benefits. He also stated that it is estimated that using clay brick will reduce the cost of building by at least 40 percent. Read more...
Surveyor lauds new Land Act 2020
Mr John Christian Acquaah, Chairperson of the Land Survey Division of the Ghana Association of Surveyors has lauded the implementation of the new Land Act 2020 (Act 1036) which seeks to address land issues in the country. Mr Acquaah made the observation during an interview with the media at the closing of a Four-day Annual Seminar of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS), Land Survey Division in Accra. The conference was intended to educate Surveyors on the provisions of the new passed Land Act 2020 (Act 1036) which seeks to tackle issues relating to land in the country. Read more...
