330 megawatts 'dumsor' relief to come in June

Managers of the Takoradi International Company (TICO) plant in the Aboadze Thermal Enclave say the 330MW of power expected from their power plants by end of June will lead to an improvement in the current power crisis.

Speaking during a visit to the Aboadze Enclave on Thursday by President John Dramani Mahama, the Managing Director of TICO, Nana Osafo Kantanka, said the company is currently generating only 105 megawatts from its second gas turbine (SC 2).

The other turbine, SC 1, which has a capacity of 110MW, has been shut down for maintenance. The other plant in the enclave managed by VRA's TAPCo is producing an average of about 250MW.

According to Nana Kantanka, the SC 1 turbine is undergoing total refurbishment and rehabilitation to transform it into a "virtually brand new machine, which will take us the journey of another 25 years."

He announced that work is almost 95% complete on the new steam turbine under construction, from which another 110MW is expected.

"On behalf of the workforce of TAQA, TAPCo, VRA and all our partners, we are committing that come the end of June 2015, TICO will be producing 330MW of power", the TICO Managing Director announced.

In his remarks, President Mahama said gas is now available in the Aboadze enclave from Ghana Gas, and expressed the hope that when all the maintenance work is completed, "and both TICO and TAPCo are working properly, there will be enough gas to fuel them, so that there will be reliable service."

President Mahama said when the ongoing repair works on plants in both Tema and Takoradi are completed, and gas is also available, there would be an increase in supply to keep up with the fast growing demand for electricity.

President Mahama also inspected the site for the systems to be installed for the 250MW Ameri-Energy/ APR emergency power badge.

Nkrumah’s son fights Rawlings

Dr Onsy Nathaniel Kwame Nkrumah, son of late President Kwame Nkrumah, says he finds it hard to understand why Jerry John Rawlings, during his tenure of office as head of state, failed to investigate the alleged murder of Rev Francis Akwasi Amoako, a renowned Christian cleric.

Rev Akwasi Amoako, founder of the Resurrection Power Ministry – now Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries International – was reported to have been killed by two junior military officers in 1990 at the Winneba Junction in the Central Region, when he was returning from a Christian revival programme in Takoradi with the Tagoe Sisters gospel artistes.

The late evangelist, who was 42 years old at the time of his alleged murder, was said to have been critical of the shortcomings of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) administration headed by Mr Rawlings – which metamorphosed into the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 1992.

The officers were said to have rammed their military truck into the vehicle of the evangelist and later allegedly stabbed him to death after their earlier attempt at crushing him to death had failed.

Twenty-five years after that gruesome incident, Dr Nkrumah still cannot fathom why Mr Rawlings, “under whose watch the murder took place, has not been able to tell the family of the late man of God what actually caused his death.”

For him, it wasn’t a motor accident that killed Rev Akwasi Amoako, as the government claimed at the time.

He alleged that the soldiers intentionally killed the pastor.

“He was killed by a military truck running into him and when he came out two military officers rushed on him and stabbed him,” he told DAILY GUIDEin an interview on the sidelines of the 25th anniversary celebration of Rev Akwasi Amoako’s passing-on. The ceremony took place in Accra on Tuesday.

He posed, “My question to Rawlings is first of all, who ordered the killing of the man; because the officers who killed him at the time were junior ranks and could not have acted on their own orders.”

Dr Nkrumah noted, “He was the only person killed at the time. The two girls escaped because they were not intended to be killed. The soldiers had orders to kill Rev Akwasi Amoako only.”

Reports of military killings were not uncommon during the reign of Mr Rawlings, an ex-military leader.

Dr Nkrumah claimed the soldiers killed pastor Amoako because “they saw him as a thorn in the flesh of the government of the day; but what they really didn’t know was that he loved Rawlings and was only correcting him and his followers, and nothing else.”

He is therefore demanding concrete answers from former President Jerry John Rawlings as to why he failed to investigate the matter “to bring to book those who perpetrated the act.”

Multimedia Group Says They Can’t Broadcast JOY FM & their Many Other Stations At Night Again Because of ‘Dumsor Dumsor’

Multimedia Group Says They Can’t Broadcast JOY FM & their Many Other Stations At Night Again Because of ‘Dumsor Dumsor’

Multimedia Group

‘Dumsor Dumsor’ has killed small and medium scale businesses in Ghana and now it seems to have caught up with even the big companies such as multimedia group, the parent company of Joy FM, Adom FM, Hitz FM and Asempa FM and a host of TV and online networks.

According to Multimedia Group, they will not be broadcasting at night (starting from midnight to 4am) again until further notice because of ‘Dumsor Dumsor’—as it’s taking a toll on their alternative power resource to keep on with the usual around the clock broadcast.

Joy FM reports that; “Chief Operating Officer of Accra Radio, Ekyi Quarm, said over the past three months, when a nationwide power rationing exercise started, Multimedia has been digging deep into its finances to sustain normal broadcasts.

“However, it’s gotten to a stage where we can no longer do that. So since last week, we’ve been going off from midnight to 4am. This applies to our operations in Kumasi as well”, he explained.

Generators running Multimedia transmitting sites are also being managed to cut down fuel costs.

According Ekyi Quarm, expenditure on fuel over the past months has risen exponentially, from GH¢2,000 to GH¢20,000 for radio alone every month.

The Multimedia Group spends about GH¢60,000 a week to run its generators across all platforms in Accra and Kumasi, a situation that has taken a heavy toll on the company’s resources.

“We have to conserve to survive”, Ekyi Quarm said.”

This is the Ghana we are left with—and yet, we can’t seem to do anything about it.

Akufo-Addo to celebrate 71st birthday in Western Region

Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has announced that he will celebrate his 71st birthday in Bodi in the Western Region.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who was born on March 29, 1944 will celebrate his birthday on Sunday with his family.

He is in the region to attend the funeral of the late Emmanuel Addai, NPP’s Parliamentary candidate for the Bodi constituency.

The ardent politician who took to social media to announce his birthday said he will return to Accra on Monday, March 30.

Your online countdown clock -- http://www.webcountdown.net/?a=2OoQXZY

Your online countdown clock -- http://www.webcountdown.net/?a=2OoQXZY

Over $100m needed to complete Tamale Airport upgrade – Manager

 

 

The $100 million approved by Parliament for the upgrade and expansion of the Tamale Airport to an international status, will not be enough to complete the project, Mr Emmanuel Mends Fynn, Project Manager in-charge of Civil Works of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), has revealed.

Mr Fynn said the $100 million cost approved by Parliament was based on initial estimates, which had now changed because of variations in the scope of work to be done.

He said the GACL had now done a detailed design of the design and build project, which amongst others, included a total reconstruction of the runway, instead of rehabilitation amongst other facilities, which necessitates an increase in the contract sum.

Mr Fynn stated this when he briefed members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, on the progress of work on the upgrade and expansion of the Tamale Airport in Tamale on Sunday.

Members of the Committee, who visited the project site to observe the progress of work, later inspected on-going reconstruction works on the extended runway of the Airport.

The government, in September last year, cut the sod to officially commence work on the upgrade and expansion of the Tamale Airport to an international status, to enable it to amongst other things, admit international flights, as well as accommodate bigger aircraft.

This followed Parliamentary approval of $100 million to undertake the project, which is being carried out by Queiroz Galvao, a Brazilian construction firm, and scheduled to be completed by September this year.

Mr Fynn said other detailed designs were being done, adding that the additional funds needed to complete the project would be determined when the designs were completed.

Mr Charles Asare, Acting Managing Director of GACL, said the need for additional funds to complete the project would not affect its (project) delivery on schedule.

However, this revelation did not go down well with some members of the Committee, who said that Parliament approved the $100 million based on records submitted to it, which suggested that detailed costing of the project was done.

Mr Michael Boampong, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, who expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the project, urged GACL to submit the new cost of the project to Parliament for approval, to ensure its completion on schedule.