By The European Union (EU) yesterday handed over three cabin pick-ups and four single cabin light trucks to Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for its Rural Electrification Project in one hundred and ten rural communities in the Western Region.

The Rural Electrification Project in the Western Region is under the "Self Help Electrification Project" (SHEP). Under the SHEP the communities provide low voltage poles for their project and the government complements their effort by providing the distribution materials and hires a contractor to install the network.

The project would connect a population of 188,000 people located in eleven districts of the Western Region to the national grid. The European Community approved the project for implementation in June 1999 and committed ten million Euro from the European Development Fund to the project. The communities are to contribute 426,000 Euro in the form of low voltage poles. Under the project, there would also be customer education, productive use of electricity programmes and the training of ECG staff.

The beneficiary communities include Ahanta West, Aowin Suaman, Bibiani, Jomoro, Juabeso Bia, Mpohor Wassa, Nzema East and Shama Ahanta.

Stefan Frowein, Ambassador of the EU in Ghana said most often projects come to a halt because the communities delay in providing the low voltage poles. This hinders the contractor's work schedule and could lead to claims for delay.

Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah , Minister for Energy expressed gratitude to the European Union for the grant provided to the Government of Ghana for the project. He said the project forms a key part of the National Electrification Programme, which is aimed at extending the reach of reliable electricity supply to all parts of the country by the year 2020.

He said at the moment it is estimated that about 40% of Ghanaians have access to electricity supply. "Though this level of electrification is one of the highest in Africa, it still shows that there are a lot more people in the country who are yet to have the benefit of enjoying the developmental and socio-economic changes associated with electrification," he said.

Mr. Kan-Dapaah said the government is determined to transform the economy of the country and ensure better and higher standard of living for all Ghanaians. He said to achieve this objective, the government has placed emphasis on the provision of affordable and reliable electricity supply to all parts of the country, especially in the rural areas.

He said the next phase of the "Self Help Electrification Programme", (SHEP-4 Project) has been commenced. It has been estimated that over US$200 million would be required for the project. He assured the EU that the vehicles would be put to the right use and appealed to them to extend their Grant Aids Scheme to finance part of the SHEP-4 Project.