Ghana says it is planning to export thousands of megawatts of
electricity to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and other neighbouring countries
that have power deficit.
The Ghanaian President, Mr. John Mahama, who made the disclosure at
the Africa Global Business and Economic Forum in Dubai on Wednesday,
said his government had made huge investments in power generation that
would enable the country to export excess electricity to Nigeria and
others.
"We have given priority to electricity generation in our country. We
have prioritised energy in such a way that we want to become the hub
for power production in West Africa. We want to generate electricity
to the point that excess power can be exported to Nigeria, Ivory Coast
and other countries that have power deficit," he said.
To achieve this dream, Mahama said his country had secured
export-import financing from China as well as special funds from Abu
Dhabi to commence series of power generation projects, adding that a
third hydropower dam project was already at an advanced stage.
The Ghanaian leader spoke in a panel discussion along with President
Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Mulatu Wirtu of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Mahama added, "Where Africa faces some of its challenges lies its
biggest opportunities. We are leveraging on public-private sector
partnership to build infrastructure. Be it roads, electricity, ports
or communication systems; if we create the right environment,
investors will come.
"Creating the right environment that will attract foreign direct
investment is key."
In achieving this, the Ghanaian leader joined Kagame and Wirtu to
emphasise the need for African governments to strengthen
anti-corruption agencies in their various countries.
"Issues of accountability and transparency are very important. There
must be mechanism to fight corruption. We all have institutions but
the major thing is resourcing them to effectively fight corruption and
perform effectively," he noted.
According to Kagame, African governments must create a system that is
not sympathetic to corruption, saying this would help drive the
required Foreign Direct Investment into the continent.
He said, "It is one thing to have the institutions; it is another
thing to allow them to work. Governance and structure must be in place
to make them to work," he said.
"African governments must fix infrastructure, investment in
development of education and skills, and also enhance connectivity
among African countries."
No comments:
Post a Comment