Ghana National Gas Company says it would continue to engage with residents living along its gas pipelines to protect the facility.

Dr George Sipa Adjah Yankey, Chief Executive Officer of the GNGC, made this known during a two-day retreat organised by the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Benyin in the Jomoro District.

He said the company would dialogue with the chiefs in the catchment areas to find a guideline for recruiting people for the job.

Dr Yankey said the Atuabo gas plant has created direct and indirect jobs for thousands of people in the country with a number being indigenes from the region.

He said the Western Corridor gas infrastructure has created an avenue for more companies to relocate to the region, including Aggreko plc, Amandi Construction Company, Jacobson and many others.

Dr Yankey said government has also undertaken a number of projects in the region including roads, sea defence projects, water and sanitation and the Takoradi Port expansion.

He said: “The region is the growth pole of the country providing the chunk of the country’s resources and deserves its share of the national cake”.

Dr Yankey said the facility was constructed to produce more than 120 million Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas per day, and that would enable the Volta River Authority (VRA) to generate about 500 megawatts of power a day so that the VRA would save about $ 800 million in foreign currency yearly.

He announced that the Atuabo gas plant is supplying 75 per cent of the domestic gas (liquefied petroleum gas) demand and is expected to increase the volume in the coming months.

Dr Yankey expressed unhappiness that the West African Gas Company’s (WAPCo) had not met its gas supply target to the Aboadze Thermal Power Station.

He said WAPco was supposed to supply 120 million standard cubic feet of gas daily per the contract signed with the government.

However, over the years, it has been supplying between 30 million and 45 million SCF of gas per day, hence the shortfall in the electricity supply to the national grid.