Energy Minister Tasked WAPCo To Meet Deadline 


The Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has called on the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) to ensure that it does everything within its power to adhere to the scheduled date of resumption of operations of the gas pipeline.

According to him, the ever growing significance of gas supply to the region and the importance which the government attaches to the project made it imperative on WAPCo to do all it can to meet the target.

The Minister made the call at a meeting with officials of the company at the Ministry on Tuesday March 5, 2013.

This was contained in a statement from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and copied to the Ghana Broadcasting Coporation on Tuesday. 

Recalling the two instances where the scheduled dates were missed, the statement said Mr Buah said the company was already inching towards serious credibility problems, adding that ‘this is an opportunity to restore the reputation of WAPCo.

The statement further said the Minister also hinted of plans to meet with officials of N-gas of Nigeria, suppliers of gas to Ghana, to discuss the availability of gas supplies to the country as soon as work on the pipeline is completed.

That, he said, was aimed at avoiding a situation where the pipeline will be in place but without the required volume of gas needed to power the country’s plants.

The statement said officials of WAPGCo were at the Ministry at the instance of the Minister to brief him on the progress of re-commission works on the West African Gas Pipeline.

The Managing Director of WAPCo, Charles A. Adeniji, in his response, told the Minister that the company has successfully completed integrity testing of the pipeline connectors, adding that the contractors engaged to undertake the re-commissioning works necessary to bring the pipeline back into operation have mobilized to site and are currently removing water from the pipeline.

He assured the Minister that the April 30 deadline will be met.

Accompanying the WAPCo boss were the General Manager (Operations), Charles Dele Adongbede and General Manager (Corporate Affairs), Harriet Wereko-Brobby.

Also at the meeting were the Chief Director of the Ministry, Professor Thomas Akabzaa and some officials.

GBC