From left: Alfa Oumar Dissa, Boakye Agyarko and other officials
Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, has announced that Ghana will supply 100 megawatts of power to neighbouring Burkina on a daily basis.
Mr Agyarko, who hosted the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries of Burkina Faso, Alfa Oumar Dissa in Accra, said work on transmission lines from Bolgatanga to Burkina Faso for the supply of power has already begun.
He explained that Ghana over the years has been supplying power to Burkina Faso in small quantities.
“We have been supplying power to Burkina Faso in a smaller quantity of 0.5 megawatts since 2003, but it moved to 9.2 megawatts in 2013. It has now gotten to a point that Burkina Faso has embarked on a development agenda and needs more power, and Ghana has agreed to supply power to a tune of 100 megawatts,” he said.
According to the Energy Minister, power is vital to the rapid development of the two countries.
He stressed that it was important for the two countries to begin discussions to meet the needs of their citizens.
“Those who want to exploit us will play us, because we exist in small points. We can do what is required for the benefit of our people,” he said.
Bagre Dam
On the issue of the Bagre Dam, the Burkinabe Energy Minister, said that Burkina has embarked on a project to build another dam to contain the excess water from the dam.
He gave assurance that the annual spillage of water from the dam due to the high rainfall in Burkina Faso, which causes a lot of destruction to property and lives in the Northern Region, would be a thing of the past.
“Burkina Faso is taking the extra step to contain the water, possibly for power generation, irrigation and slowly release the water into Ghana’s space,” he added.
He emphasised that Ghana and Burkina have to implement some of the programmes that would inure to the benefit of the people.
Petroleum Pipe Line
At the meeting, it was also revealed that Ghana was in talks with Burkina Faso for the construction of a pipeline from Buipe in the Northern Region to Bingo in Burkina Faso for easy transmission of petroleum products between the two countries.
This, according to him, would get rid of unscrupulous petroleum transporters, who sabotage the industry through their nefarious activities.
“How can a tanker full of petrol move from Accra to Burkina Faso and come back in five hours?” he quizzed.
He noted that it has become necessary to modernize the transportation of petroleum products through a well engineered pipeline system.
The two ministers exchanged gifts to deepen the relations between the two countries.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri