General News of Monday, 14 March 2016

Source: kasapafmonline.com

‘Dumsor’ most challenging task so far – Mahama

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President John Mahama has described the four-year power crisis (Dumsor) that plagued the country as the most challenging part of his reign.

Speaking to TV Station TV 3 Monday, he said ‘dumsor’ is the one thing that has gained a significant part of his attention throughout his administration.

“I’ve had the most briefs from the Minister of Power than any other minister in my administration, even more than the Minister of Finance. And so if you ask me what the most challenging issue was that I’ve had to deal with is the power crisis”.

In the last four years, Ghana has not had stable supply of power as demand has outstripped supply. But in the last two years, the crisis deepened with the country suffering job losses as industries cut down on their intake to remain in business.

Small scale enterprises have also not been spared the effects of the crisis coupled with an unstable currency that made life more difficult.

Government has in recent times implemented some initiatives to make up for the shortfall in power supply. These include the Karpower Barge from Turkey which docked at the Tema Port this December to produce 225 megawatts of power.

A second power barge is also expected in the first quarter of 2016. Government has also secured ten power plants from the UAE-based Ameri Energy.