Deputy Energy & Green Transition Minister Designate, Richard Gyan-Mensah, has reassured Ghanaians that Dumsor is not back.
Appearing before the Appointment’s Committee, he acknowledged that while there have been occasional power cuts in some areas, the situation does not qualify as dumsor.
“”Thank you Mr. Chairman I want to ensure my brother that dumsor is not back. We all experienced the period of dumsor and we know what we went through in terms of the times when the light goes off, there were schedules and all those things. I cannot deny the fact that lights go off in some areas, but that has not been something that you can describe as dumsor”.
Gyan-Mensah clarified that the current power interruptions are largely due to ongoing maintenance of the West African Gas Pipeline, which supplies gas from Nigeria to Ghana’s thermal plants.
“Currently, the West African Gas Pipeline is under maintenance, and most of our thermal plants use the gas from Nigeria. Those coming from Takoradi because the pipeline is being worked on we cannot even bring the product from Takoradi. And then also government has made provision for liquid fuel to supplement them, however there are some plants which are exclusively LPG, which I think that there is a maintenance work they may not get the needed gas to power the plant.”
The deputy Energy and Green Transition Minister designate has assured that, the government has arranged for liquid fuel as a temporary supplement to the gas supply.
He also highlighted that the maintenance work on the pipeline is expected to be completed by March 6th, 2025, after which the country will have sufficient gas to power the thermal plants and stabilize power supply.
“Once it is done, we will get enough gas to power the thermal plants and these things you will not see them again and my minister and I would make sure that this narrative of dumsor will never come up again”.
President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that his government through determined efforts have averted the looming power crisis commonly known as “dumsor”, after the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government neglected to arrange enough fuel to power thermal plants.
It will be recalled the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) in a statement issued revealed maintenance of the gas pipelines from Nigeria to Ghana by WAGP was initially set to take place in October 2024 but the Akufo-Addo government postponed the maintenance to January 2025.
John Mahama further noted that the maintenance work on the gas pipeline posed a significant threat to the country’s power supply.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of six newly appointed ministers at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, John Mahama stated, “The previous government did not work to ensure the smooth running of the energy sector by neglecting to arrange enough fuel to power our thermal plants”.
“Through determined efforts, I can report that we have now averted the looming threat of power outages and have begun delivering fuel to the thermal plants in the east, in advance of the shutdown of the West African Gas Pipeline”, he added.
The president further acknowledged Energy Minister, John Jinapor, for working diligently to address the situation timely.
Despite these assurances, there have been recorded cases of erratic power supply with many in the Ashanti Region relying on generator sets to power their homes and businesses.
Watch video:
‘Dumsor’ is not back – Richard Gyan-Mensah, Deputy Energy Minister-designate assures.
Watch his vetting live here: https://t.co/YwthGfpkuE
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