The Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES) Nana Amoasi VII says there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the government deciding to rename the AMERI Power Plant.
His comment comes after the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah slammed President Akufo-Addo for attempting to rename AMERI Power Plant to Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant (K1TPP).
President Akufo-Addo is expected to rename the Ameri plant procured during the tenure of former President Joh Mahama and rename it Kumasi 1 Thermal Plant (K1TPP).
“5 days more to the commissioning of the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant (K1TPP) at Anwomaso, in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti Region,” Volta River Authority wrote on its official Facebook handle.
Responding to the development, the Ellembelle lawmaker in a statement described the rebranding of the Ameri Plant as deceptive and shameful.
“By shamelessly rebranding the Ameri Power Plants as the Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant, they are attempting to conceal their incompetence and lack of substantive progress with a facade of false achievements.
“This blatant move to rename existing infrastructure in a bid to claim credit for the hard work of their predecessors not only lacks integrity but also insults the intelligence of the Ghanaian people,” he stated.
But commenting on the issue in an interview on TV3 News monitored by Kasapafmonline.com Sunday, Nana Amoasi VII said the renaming is consistent with VRA’s tradition, adding that the exercise should not be politicized.
“The plant is no more owned in any shape by the Africa Middle East and Resource Investment (AMERI) company. It is now owned by Ghana and it is going to be operated by the Volta River Authority (VRA). If you watch the pattern of naming of VRA plants, you will see that this is consistent with that. When you come to Tema you will find Kpong Thermal Power Plant owned by the VRA. You will also find Tema Thermal 1 Power Plant owned by the VRA. When you go to even the hydro segment, you will find Akosombo Generating Station, you will also find Kpone Generating Station. And so you will find that in all the naming, they use the location of the plant to name it. So if you have Kumasi Thermal 1 Power Plant today, that is consistent with what the VRA has been doing over the years. We should take the power shade out of this discussion.”
Ghana in January 2022 took full ownership of the 250-megawatt (MW) power production plant from the African and Middle East Resources Investment Group, otherwise known as AMERI Energy.
The 10-unit barge, with capacity to generate 25MW each, totaling 250MW, is commissioned on natural gas.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com
