MoU signed on four hydro projects (Back Page )

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah (July 29, 2008)

THE Ministry of Energy and a local consortium, Pato Power Company, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to begin work on four mini hydroelectric dams on rivers Tano, Ankobra and Pra.
The US$900 million project, which is scheduled to be completed in three years, is estimated to provide a total of 250 megawatts electric power to boost the country’s energy supply.
The River Pra, which runs through both the Central and Western regions of Ghana, will accommodate two of the dams; one at Awisam in the Central Region and the other in Sekyere Heman in the Western Region.
The other two dam sites are on the Ankobra River at Bunso and on the Tano River at Tanoso, both in the Western Region.
Synohydro Company of China, the firm constructing the Bui Hydroelectric Dam, has been awarded the contract to work on the projects.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Executive Chairman of Supercare Group Limited, the local representative of Synohydro Company of China, Mr William Oppong Bio, said preparations were ongoing to get the sites ready for separate sod-cutting ceremonies in the four communities by the President, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, by the end of August, 2008.
Mr Bio pointed out that a site investigation team from Synohydro Company was expected in the country in a month’s time to take measurements on the rivers to determine the exact portions to house each of the dams.
He stated that 90 per cent of the $900 million needed for the project was being sourced from J.P. Morgan, a United Kingdom (UK) financial institution, by Pato Power Company and the remaining 10 per cent, which served as equity, was also being provided by the consortium and the Government of Ghana.
He stressed that about 3,000 Ghanaians would be employed to work on the four projects.
Studies have already been done on the three rivers to update existing feasibility studies that had been conducted since 1960. The update was done by Supercare Group Limited and Coyner et Bellier, a French company that deals in hydro projects.
The last time an attempt was made at building the dams was in 1995 when the former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, made a statement to that effect in the State of the Nation Address that he read on January 6, 1995.
The estimated 250 megawatts electric power to be generated from the four dams would add up to the about 900 megawatts from the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam as well as an estimated 400 megawatts to be supplied from the ongoing Bui Hydroelectric project. Other sources of energy supply include the Aboadze Thermal Plant and other power generating plants owned by some public and private sector companies.