France’s AFD promises to finance power projects in Ghana
Mr. Yves Boudot, Director of Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) for Africa, on Wednesday said, his office would continue to finance power projects in Ghana.
He said the AFD had a wide range of financing options to support government’s efforts at achieving its power sector objectives.
A statement made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, on Wednesday, said Mr. Boudot made the promise at a meeting with the sector Minister, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah.
Mr. Boudot said the AFD had demonstrated that efficient public companies could have access to direct international financing without state guarantee.
“AFD is financing the reinforcement and extension of the power grid in Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, which would allow the Ghanaian national electricity transmission company, GRIDCO to scale up development in the region”, the statement said.
It added that the extension of power grid in Northern Ghana would have substantial economic, political and environmental benefits for the West African sub-region.
“The programme’s main objective is to make Ghana’s existing power grid more reliable, and to scale up its capacity by reducing the current imbalance between the North and South of the country and support the development of Northern Ghana”, it noted.
The statement said the AFD’s support for the country in the implementation of its strategy for the generation component by financing the rehabilitation of the Kpong hydro power plant would continue, adding that, plans were in place to provide support for other projects.
Mr Buah, the sector Minister, said the relationship between Ghana and France would continue to grow from strength to strength, recalling the visit by President John Mahama to France.
The statement quoted the Minister as saying that, Ghana’s quest to achieve 5000 megawatts power generation capacity was on course, and asked for support from AFD, adding that “the Ministry was working to strengthen the utilities for greater efficiency’’.
Source: GNA