Nyinahin (Ash) Feb.20, GNA - The World Bank is providing 15 million dollars for improvement in the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to enable the Company solve difficulties it is facing in power delivery to consumers.

Government is also securing additional 105 million dollars for the Company to enable it bring power distribution network in Ghana to acceptable levels.

President John Agyekum Kufuor announced these when he inaugurated an electrification project that would link Nyinahin and 23 other communities in the Atwima district to the National Electricity Grid at Nyinahin on Friday.

The project was financed by the Japanese government with a grant of 755 million Japanese Yen (about 6.3 million dollars) and Ghana government component of Eight Billion Cedis.

The project included the installation of a 33 kilovolt (kV) transmission line of about 60 kilometres, a booster station, transformers for power distribution and other related equipment. Since the commencement of the National Electrification Programme in 1989, the Japanese government has provided aid of about 40 million dollars for rural electrification projects in various parts of the country.

The Nyinahin project brings the total number of beneficiary communities of Japanese government assistance to 112, this is in addition to the significant financial support that the Japanese government is providing for infrastructure development in the country especially in the road sector.

President Kufuor said these projects were making significant changes in the social and economic lives of the beneficiary communities and Ghana was deeply obliged to Japan.

President Kufuor said the provision of electricity should help to unleash the economic potential of the area, which was endowed with significant natural resources.

He said the unavailability of electricity supply which had hitherto impeded the exploitation of mineral resources especially bauxite in the Nyinahin area had therefore been solved.

President Kufuor pledged government's commitment to continue to explore various options that would enable it develop an integrated aluminium complex where the bauxite mined could be refined into alumina and subsequently converted into aluminium for the local market and export. He said it was not only the bauxite industry that could be developed in the area but asked the people to galvanize and harness the known entrepreneurial potential associated with them to develop small and medium scale industries especially in agro-processing and woodwork to provide employment opportunities and create wealth.

President Kufuor said with the supply of the electricity, students' performance should improve significantly since they could now study in the night while improved service delivery must be the norm in health facilities.

"The district can now take advantage of the information and communication technology for development", he added.

Mrs Kazuko Asai, Japanese Ambassador in Ghana, said Japan attached great importance to the improvement of infrastructure in its assistance and this matched with the priority set out in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.

She said the successful completion of the project was a further testimony of good co-operation between Ghana and Japan in the area of economic and social development.

Mrs Asai said basic infrastructure such as electricity, potable water and feeder roads were essential elements for the rural areas to develop. She said, therefore, the project would enable all basic service providers to significantly improve their services in areas such as health, education and many others.

Mrs Asai added that" the timely improvement of such services is therefore highly expected from the service providers". She pledged Japan's commitment to support countries and communities that were committed to their own development agenda.