Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has indicated its commitment to improving accessibility to stable and affordable power in Africa by way of investment.   

JICA for close to 60 years has invested millions of dollars in some African countries, particularly in the West African sub-region due to economic importance of electricity.  

Disclosing this at a 5-day training programme in collaboration with the Electricity Company of Ghana, Chief Representative, JICA Ghana Office, Araki Yasumichi said “for instance in Ghana, we used grant and schemes to implement the $38 million project to improve power supply to Accra and $50 million for improvement of power distribution system completed in 2018 and 2015 respectively” 

“The Electrical Engineers Training for African countries (EETA) project was completed in 2016, whiles it was implemented with $ 2.5 million,” he added.  

According to Mr. Yasumichi, JICA in 2017 implemented $39.3 million project which was aimed at improving power distribution system in Free Town, Sierra Leone aside technical cooperation.

Another project worth noting is the $20 million grant for the rehabilitation of the Monrovia power system completed in 2016 and technical cooperation project in Liberia.

JICA believes the above mentioned projects among technical support for countries on the continent have helped to improve electricity accessibility.

The 5-day training programme on Technique and Procedures for Maintenance of Power Equipment and System Protection and Control is considered crucial after cancellation of such courses over the outbreak of Ebola in 2015.

The course held at the Training School of ECG provided participating countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia with good insight into developing effective protection systems to ensure reliability of their power network.

On the part of ECG, this year’s training further deepens the already good relationship between the company and government of Japan.

Deputy Managing Director, Sales and Customer Service, ECG, Ing. Jones Ofori-Addo said the training course forms part of the EETA project funded by JICA.

“JICA built 33/11KV power substation to enhance practical experience and provide on hands learning for trainees that attend sessions at the centre. I would like to appreciate the Government of Japan for its general support,” he said.

He was optimistic that the implementation of the technical cooperation project on EETA will prepare beneficiary countries to provide safe and reliable electricity to their clients.

Ing. Ofori-Addo was grateful to management and staff of the power distributor for the implementation of this programme.

Meanwhile, Director of ECG Training School, Ing. Dr. George Marfo indicated that such trainings afford participating countries which lost their experts as a result of war an opportunity to obtain theoretical and practical experience.

“From here, they should be able to manage, maintain and run their systems effectively. JICA thought it wise to use our training centre to impact skills left behind to be able maintain their power network,” he explained.