EU shows confidence in energy sector reforms

General news for Monday, February 1, 2021

Source: Kojo Kumah, Contributor

2021-02-01

The European Union, Thursday January 19, 2021, through the French Development Agency – French Development Agency (AFD), approved a € 9.7 million grant to the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo ) to relaunch infrastructure works on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga transport network of GRIDCo Project.

The objective of the project, initially funded with an amount of 174 million dollars from AFD to GRIDCo and a technical assistance grant of 4.8 million euros from the EU, aims to improve and improve the supply and access to the northern regions of Ghana and to stimulate power exports to the sub-region under the West African Power Pool (WAPP), starting with Burkina Faso

Present at the GRIDCo grant approval signing ceremony were both the EU Ambassador to Ghana, HE Diana Acconcia and the French Ambassador to Ghana, HE Anne-Sophie Ave as well as the Director AFD countries, Christophe Cottet and the CEO of GRIDCo, Jonathan Amoako-Baah who signed on behalf of their respective institutions. The two ambassadors co-signed.

The € 9.7 million grant will facilitate the rapid completion of the overdue project. According to energy and financial experts, this grant is a vote of confidence in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s commitment to ensure a sustainable and reliable electricity supply in Ghana and the sub-region.

The approval of the grant is also a recognition of the various strategic measures and prudent budgetary policies taken by the last board of GRIDCo, appointed by the BNP government.

For much of the past three years, work on the 330 kV Kumasi to Bolgatanga transmission line project that began under the government of former President John Mahama has slowed down as AFD was forced to stop paying. contractors working on the project. This was due to severe liquidity issues that resulted in GridCo’s inability to “service” AFD’s initial $ 174 million loan and other similar obligations.

After months of negotiations between GridCo’s board of directors, management and AFD and the personal intervention of President Akufo-Addo, a sovereign guarantee for AFD’s initial loan was approved by the Ghanaian Parliament. AFD then resumed disbursing the balance of the loan facility. Even at its unfinished stage, the Kumasi-Bolgatanga transmission line project has enabled the export of electricity to Burkina Faso.

The project is considered a key link and a priority in the West African energy pool.