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The Pokuase Exchange Project is jointly funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Ghana. It is expected to be completed in April 2020.
Since closure, Akosombo in the eastern region has been transported to Mallam, Winneba and Cape Coast, as well as to the western region.
But this transmission goes through a 161 kV transmission line, much lower than the 330 kV lines deactivated.
It has left large parts of cities and towns in the 16 regions without regular power supply, a considerable effect that is reviving fears of another episode of a paralyzing energy crisis between 2012 and 2016.
John Jinapor, a former Deputy Minister of Energy under the NDC government led by Mahama, questioned the government's view that consumers had not been warned that planned construction could trigger power outages.
"If I know I'm going to drop a line and I know this will cause disruption, is not it advisable to inform consumers in advance"
Photo: John Jinapor is NDC MP for the Yapei / Kusawgu region in the Northern Region.
He argued that blaming power cuts on the triggering of transmission lines greatly minimizes the problem.
John Jinapor said the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo), which manages transmission lines in the energy sector, was bankrupt.
According to him, Gridco appeared before a parliamentary committee and revealed that he had recorded a loss of $ 140 million in 2018 and a project of about $ 345 million in 2019.
The lack of financial resources, he said, could compromise his ability to properly modernize the transmission lines, which will prolong the difficulties of energy supply.
A French agency supposed to finance the modernization of transmission lines from 161 kV to 330 kV ended its financing.
The French agency, he said, discovered that Gridco did not have enough resources or badets to meet short-term financial obligations, technically defined as a bad capital ratio .
The former Deputy Minister of Energy said the French financiers estimated that the current ratio of Gridco should increase from 0.9 to 0.6, which could raise concerns that the company is not able to repay quickly its short-term obligations. The current ratio was 1.85 in 2014.
He also rejected the explanation that a problem at the Achimota substation in Accra was cut off from the current.
John Jinapor said that a power outage in the Achimota substation would not have affected residents as far as Tamale in the Northern Region.
He explained that the northern sector derives its power from the cities of the western region Aboadze, via Prestea, pbading through the regional capital Ashanti, Kumasi, to the northern sector.
The NDC politician observed that the energy problem was not a technical challenge but a financial challenge.
He said the Ghana Gas Company had a debt of about 850 million dollars while ECG had announced a debt of more than one billion cedis in the last quarter. Gridco would have close to 700 million cedis blocked with debtors.
"Do not just tell us to stumble, stumble," he dismissed the government's explanation and asked for a comprehensive solution.
President Akufo-Addo, taking over from the government John Mahama, revealed that the country had more than $ 2.4 billion in debt in the energy sector.
The NDC government has been accused of accumulating debts in the energy sector. But John Jinapor rejected this view, arguing that the energy sector tax, which the government continues to collect, is supposed to pay off those debts.
He said the NPP government had added new debts of about 13 billion cedis, which is hurting the electricity sector.
-Myjoyonline
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