Some communities in Accra have been experiencing unannounced blackouts for the past few days affecting the lives and businesses of residents.
The Minority and experts say the government’s failure to pay some key players in the energy sector, including the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), has led to erratic power cuts.
However, the government is assuring the situation has been completely resolved.
Speaking to the Deputy Minister of Energy, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, on the Midday News on Joy FM, he assured Ghanaians that the country is not back to its ‘dumsor’ days.
He admitted that while the government did owe WAPCo some $19 million as of last year, the government has settled $13 million of that, leaving an arrear of $6 million.
“Indeed and in fact, there is some obligation GNPC owed to WAPCo for which they made the demand sometime in December. Some payments were made to WAPCo in December but of course, they found it insufficient.
“So they issued a threat that if we don’t pay them by a certain date which tend to coincide with the holidays they were going to take it off, which is the reverse flow services that they provide for moving gas from the west to the east.
“We engaged them while we worked with the Ministry of Finance to make funds available to pay. There was some delay, so they pulled off the services on Wednesdays. Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance made funds available and so they restored the services.
“So to suggest that intervening period where we were working internally to seek approvals to raise the funds to pay for which then led to WAPCo pulling their services for a day, if you like, amounts to a dumsor that you and I experienced a protracted power outage over a four year period is really stretching it,” he said.
He noted that while the larger chunk of the debt has been settled, the government is currently in talks with WAPCo to come out with a payment plan for the remaining $6 million.
“It was 19 million. 3 million was paid bringing the figure to 16, the ministry of finance has made another 10 million payment, so what will be outstanding really will be some 6 million. Of course, we’re having conversations with them on how that will be paid,” he said.
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