President John Dramani Mahama has commended the Volta River Authority for its response to the recent fire outbreak at the Akosombo control room, describing the incident as an opportunity to modernise the facility.

Speaking during his visit to assess the damage and ongoing recovery works at Akosombo on April 30, Mahama expressed sympathy over the incident but praised the technical team for their swift response in restoring power generation.

“We heard about the sad event — the fire outbreak in your control room — and of course, Ghanaians have felt the impact,” he said. He noted that the authority’s response demonstrated strong institutional capacity.

“I’m not surprised because VRA has some of the best human resources you can get anywhere. When I heard they were going to find a way of bringing it back, I was not surprised,” he stated.

Mr Mahama described the fire as an unfortunate but transformative moment, given the age of the facility. “This is an act of God because who would have expected that a control room that has been there since 1964 would experience this kind of fire?” he said.

He added that the incident presents a chance to rebuild and upgrade infrastructure at the Akosombo plant. “They say adversity is an opportunity. Now that this has happened, it allows us to replace it with a more modern control room that will serve this plant for generations to come,” he noted.

The president revealed that progress had already been made in restoring operations. “I have been briefed that four of the turbines are back on, and work is ongoing to bring the remaining two back online. I am told more good news will follow soon,” he said.

He commended the staff of the VRA and its partners for their efforts and encouraged them to continue working towards full restoration.

“VRA will continue to be one of the foremost institutions, together with Ghana Grid Company, and government will continue to support you,” he assured.