President John Mahama says he has kept his promise to end a four-year power crisis that crippled businesses and left many jobless.

Delivering his 2016 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Thursday, the President expressed his excitement at dealing with the nagging problem.

He said, “I stood before this very august house and promised to fix the power sector deficit that at the time had become a significant constraint to the economic growth and a destruction to Ghanaians both home and at work.

“This was a time of considerable national anxiety. The deficit brought about a severe power rationing and I was very much concerned. Ghanaians had to sleep in darkness or spend money to fuel generators. Businesses faced challenges, and I expressed my full regret to the nation and I took full responsibility as President and leader of this nation and commander in Chief,” he added.

He said although getting through the task was not easy, the hard work has paid off and this has “made us achieve the fastest mobilization of emergency power in the history of Ghana.”

The President also indicated that about 800MW has been added to the national grid in the shortest period of time as part of measures to deal with the power crisis.

“Fast tracking the finalisation and commissioning of KTPP added 220MW, fast tracking the commissioning of TICO’s combined cycle added 110MW, mobilising Karpower added another 220MW and as I speak, AMERI is adding 250MW extra power to our transmission grid. In addition, 180MW of Asogli phase 2 is also available as soon as we can get extra gas for it.”

He, however, acknowledged that more work still needs to be done to give the comfort required for sustainable generation.

He commended former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, his deputy, John Jinapor and the Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Kofi-Buah, whose teamwork, he said “achieved this success.”

The president thanked Ghanaians for their patience and understanding even in one of the most difficult times in the country’s history and pledged that “I will continue to work to ensure that we never find ourselves in such a dreadful situation ever again.”

 

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