Rural electrification project in Ghana has received the much needed impetus after Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Stanchart Ghana announced plans to sponsor the US$98m exercise.
About 556 communities will benefit from the electrification project which forms part of electricity infrastructure expansion in order to support the operation of social projects, productive ventures, and activities in the rural areas.
The project has already been approved by the Parliament Finance Committee Chairman, James Avedzie. In his approval report, Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is entitled to contribute a total sum of US$85m to finance the supply and will also be responsible for the erection of electrical materials and equipment for the electrification project phase I. On the other hand, the Standard Chartered Bank Ghana will contribute US$13m toward the project.
Presently, under the national average of electricity access rate (NES) and Self-Help Electrification Programme (SHEP), over 5,000 communities in the country have been connected to the national electricity grid.
Former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, addressed the Parliament Finance Committee regarding the beneficiary communities saying that they are the poorly served districts in the three regions and hopefully with the electrification project the extension will help alleviate poverty and promote growth.
He further described the project as the breakthrough to increase the national access rate which is currently at 80.5% to 82.5%.
Meanwhile, Electricity Company of Ghana has it will require a sustained investment of about US$200m annually towards its investment gap in order to meet an annual power demand growth rate of about 12%. Despite the rural electrification achievement since the1990’s, some regions are still far below the national average for the electricity access rate (NES).
It is noted that some communities are still unable to provide the Low Voltage poles to qualify for electrification under the Self-Help Electrification Programme (SHEP). However, the Ministry of Power is at the moment undertaking several electrification projects in all parts of the country to accelerate the pace of the NES programme as well as attaining the universal access.
