A shortfall of about 500 megawatts of power and the projections for additional power demand in Ghana has attracted more than 20 proposals from the US, Germany, Denmark, India, China, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil and others to invest in the country’s power sector.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah disclosed this when he joined seasoned investment and development experts to discuss the topic- ‘Turning Challenges into opportunities’ at the just-ended Africa CEO Forum held in Geneva, Switzerland.
The annual forum of the CEOs of major African enterprises and top executives from global companies interested in Africa was organised by the Paris-based publishing firm, Groupe Jeune Afrique, and African Development Bank (AfDB) attracted over 8,00 participants.
Dr Spio-Garbrah who led the Ghanaian delegation to the summit noted that these projects were from all sources of energy, including gas, coal, wind, solar, biomass, waste-to-energy, mini-hydro and even sea wave.
Despite the current energy crises which have plunged 30 African countries, including Ghana, South Africa, and Nigeria into darkness, he appealed to investors to take advantage of the situation.
According to him, Ghana has the second-highest penetration of power to the general population, at 76% of the population, second only to South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of whose population had access to electricity.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah attributed the feat chalked by the country to the rural electrification programme embarked by present and successive governments.
He therefore urged companies to set up industries in the rural areas to help stem rural-urban migration in the West African country.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah observed that while rapid urbanization and the growing slums in some African cities were a cause for concern and needed better planning and management, the urbanization also offered numerous investment opportunities.
He stated that; ” if investors considered the human life cycle, from birth to death or from cradle to grave”, or even the average person’s daily needs, opportunities for investment in the urban communities of a country such as Ghana ranged from housing to transportation, to shopping centres, food supply, building and office equipment and supplies, and utilities.
Increasingly, for major public investments in utilities such as water, sewerage, sanitation and water treatment, and waste disposal and management involved various models of public-private partnerships”.
But Dr.Christopher J. Kirubi , a Director of Centum Investment Group, a leading investment company in East Africa blamed Africa’s slums on the various governments for doing nothing to improve slum dwellers’ lives.
He added that African governments lack planning and urged them to improve the lives of the people living shanty areas.
Dr Kirubi also added his voice to call on investors to come and invest in Africa saying “Africa has a lot of space which you can invest in.”
African Eye News.com
