Ghana: Press spotlights 2 new 720mw Power Purchase Agreement signed by govt, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
The signing by government of two new Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) to add about 720 Mega Watts (MW) of power to the country’s generation capacity, according to the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government has signed two new Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) to add about 720 Mega Watts (MW) of power to the country’s generation capacity, Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has disclosed.
The two agreements 370MW AKSA, Tema and 350MW AKSA, Kumasi were signed under the new PPA policy which replaced the earlier “Take or Pay” policy arrangement.
Apart from ensuring prudent addition of power generation to the existing ones, the new PPA policy also enhances efficiency in generation and distribution in the country.
Dr Prempeh who was taking his turn at the weekly Minister’s Briefing organised by the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday, said it was not true that this government had not added a Mega Watt of power to the already existing ones.
He said even though a number of PPAs had been signed under this government to add more capacity to the generating capacity of the country, the new agreements had been done within the framework of efficiency unlike previous agreements.
The minister said government had also undertaken a number of measures within the power sector to improve on efficiency.
These measures he said included the conversion of the 200MW KTPP plant and the 220MW CENIT/TTIPP plant from open cycle thermal plants to combined cycles as well as retrofitting the 132 MW T3 plant.
Dr Opoku Prempeh said government was doing a lot in the power sector with some level of emphasis also on distribution.
The newspaper says that the Legal Manager of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Farida Ali Musah, has called on operators of the petroleum industry to strictly adhere to accepted practices to avoid the risk of prosecution.
She cited the engagement of persons in activities in the downstream industry without licence, misapplication of prescribed petroleum pricing formula, and obstruction of officers of NPA or interfering with their work, as offences that would be prosecuted if violated.
Ms Musah stated that, the NPA had been empowered to prosecute operators in the downstream petroleum industry, who were found guilty under the National Petroleum Authority Act 2005 (ACT 691) and its regulations.
He made this known at a media engagement with journalists in Wa in the Upper West Region on Wednesday.
It was to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge on fuel supply and availability in the country, to enable them to educate the public on the mandate and activities of the NPA.
“There are also offences of false statements and withholding of material information, the abuse of the BRV tracking and volume monitoring regulation and all of these can put the perpetrator in trouble with the NPA,” Ms Musah said.
She urged the Ghana Police Service, Judiciary, stakeholders, media and related agencies to implement Executive Instrument (EI) 378, so that the NPA can check anomalies in the petroleum industry.
The NPA Director of Planning, Mr Dominic Aboagye, highlighted the importance of safety measures during the transportation and storage of petroleum products.
He said fuel station owners needed to be proactive in identifying supply plan disruptions and take the necessary measures to mitigate them.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has submitted proposals to the cabinet for approval to allow ten viable State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) which needed capital injection to raise some through the Accra bourse.
The Managing Director (MD) of the GSE, Abena Amoah, disclosed this during a symposium in Accra last Tuesday, and said the companies were among thirty SOEs which qualified to raise capital through the Accra bourse.
The symposium was organised by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) as part of its 2023 National Pensions Awareness Week Celebration.
The NPRA Week dubbed ‘Pensions Fair’ was on the theme ‘My Pension, My Future’.
Ms Amoah, speaking on the topic “How prepared is the Capital Market for Pension Funds’ Investments 10 Years from Now”, explained that the move was to create opportunity for qualified SOEs to raise funds from the capital market to finance their operations.
She said the exercise was to shift the burden from the government for capital when such SOEs needed fresh capital injection, explaining that the private pensions sector was growing and needed opportunities to invest their funds.
The NPRA investment guidelines mandate the Corporate Trustee Companies to invest 20 per cent of their funds in the GSE.
She said the GSE, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the State Interest and Governance Authority reviewed all the SOEs and came out with the first list of 30 SoEs which qualified for listing and raising capital through the Accra bourse.
“We have done a paper and submitted to Cabinet and essentially we are waiting approval for the first ten companies to come to the market,” she stated.
The Graphic says that the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, has called for the establishment of a new chapter in the relations between his country and Ghana.
He said as part of a new strategy of the Czech Republic, it was increasing cooperation and activities in countries around Sub-Sahara Africa and, therefore, said his visit to Ghana was part of efforts to build a long-term partnership.
Mr Fiala, who was in the country on an official visit, was speaking during a meeting with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
Mr Fiala was accompanied by a business delegation from the Czech Republic who also interacted with their Ghanaian counterparts.
The Prime Minister and his delegation were also hosted to a luncheon. Diplomatic relations between the two countries began shortly after Ghana’s independence.
The Prime Minister mentioned some of the priority areas of cooperation to be explored by his country with Ghana to include economic, defence and security, industry and a new air transport agreement.
He described Ghana as one of the five most important trade partners of his country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Fiala, who is the first Prime Minister of the Czech Republic to visit the country, also described Ghana as one of the most peaceful and stable countries in Africa.He said it was in this regard that the Czech Republic had been partnering Ghana in the areas of defence and security to help ensure peace and security in the region.
“We want to continue with our defence cooperation where Czech supplies military equipment to Ghana and also train pilots, including the modernisation of your Armed Forces,” the Prime Minister added.
GIK/APA