It has emerged that over GH₵5 billion of the GH₵6.3 billion Supplementary Budget needed for the remaining months of the 2019 fiscal year will be invested in the energy sector.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who said this, explained that the situation is due to the take-or-pay contracts signed by the erstwhile John Mahama government, which obligated the country to pay for capacity it does not need.
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He revealed this on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem programme, Tuesday while giving a diagnosis of the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review of the 2019 Budget Statement and Economic Policy and Supplementary Estimates in Parliament by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
“We are spending GH₵5 billion cedis for power we don’t need a year and this money could have been invested in other sectors of the economy,” he bemoaned.
The Information Minister noted that the country’s installed capacity of 5,083 MegaWatts (MW) is almost double at its peak demand of around 2,700 MW, but 2,300 MW of the installed capacity was contracted on a take-or-pay basis.
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This, Mr Nkrumah explained, is what is draining government coffers because “we are paying for capacity charges of power we don’t need.”
He pleaded that issues in the energy sector be discussed dispassionately devoid of politics.
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“We must discuss this devoid of politics and face the situation head-on,” he added.
Source: Ghana | Adomonline.com | Adwoa Gyasiwaa Agyeman