The Deputy Minister of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo has launched an electrification project across the Northern, North East and the Savannah regions.

The Government of Ghana (GoG) funded project estimated at US$50 million will connect several communities to the national grid, benefiting about 16,000 households.

The 24-month long project has received both cabinet and parliamentary approvals and will be executed by M/S Tropical Cable & Conductor Limited (TCCL).

Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Minister said government is making an effort to increase the access rate of electricity in the Northern Region to be at par with the national average.

"The Ministry of Energy is making the effort to bring the access rate of 70.21 per cent in the Northern Region to be at par with the national average of 85.17 per cent," Mr Aidoo said.

In view of this, a number of electrification projects have been awarded under contract to connect some communities to the national grid.

"Presently there are 2 different electrification project packages being executed in the Northern Region. This will increase to 3 after the launch of the new one," he added.

Mr Aidoo noted that the packages are under the Hunan Construction Group Corporation and the Ministry of Energy’s Self-Help Electrification Project (SHEP-4 & SHEP-5) programme.

According to him, a total of 1200 communities in 18 districts in the region will benefit from this project.

Mr Aidoo indicated that as part of interventions to reduce poverty in rural areas, the National Electrification Scheme was initiated by the Ministry of Energy with the aim of extending the reach of electricity to all parts of the country by the year 2020.

He revealed that when the scheme started in 1992, only 478 communities were connected to the national electricity grid.

However, currently, over 11,000 communities had been connected to the national grid accounting for about 85 per cent of Ghanaians who have access to electricity.

"Currently, the access to electricity in Ghana is 85.17 per cent by population. This makes Ghana the best in Africa"

Mr Owuraku Aidoo said with the vigorous programme underway, the expected target for universal access will be attained before the year 2025.