A former President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Ing. Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid, has urged staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), to take advantage of Ghana Power Compact II, which has necessitated the involvement of private sector participation in the management of ECG, to upgrade their skills and knowledge base in the energy sector.

She stressed that it is important ECG workers demonstrate their readiness to learn so that after the concessionaire has exited the programme, they will be in a better position to manage the company.

Under the Power Compact, six projects will be implemented to address the root causes of the unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana which are ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, and Access Project.

Others include Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency, and Demand Side Management Project.
Speaking in an interview with Oman FM on the sidelines of the launch of ECG Women in Engineering (WINE) Chapter, Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid reminded the workers that the concession is for a certain period stressing that, “As workers you need to be prepared in order to receive the knowledge which will be transferred to you.”

“We need to build local capacities so that whether the concessionaire leaves or stays we can have people to manage the ECG,” she suggested.

Ing Mrs. Carlien Bou-Chedid urged female engineers to promote engineering excellence and maintain professionalism at all standards.

She explained that it was important that the Engineering Council Act gets a Legislative Instrument as this would go a long way to ensure that engineering practice is duly regulated.

She also explained that it was a good initiative to promote female engineering practice by setting up the WINE Chapter and therefore admonished them to take mentorship programmes seriously as it would also go a long way to harness professionalism in the engineering practice.