Veep commissions $50m BSP for Kasoa: To boost power supply

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia Wednesday commissioned a $50-million Kasoa Bulk Supply Point (BSP) to supply reliable and quality electricity to more than 250,000 consumers in Kasoa and other adjoining communities.

The 435-mega volts amperes (MVA), second largest in the country after the Pokuase BSP, would supply power to households and businesses to improve productivity and living conditions within Kasoa, Senya Breku, Bawjiase, Nyanyano, Tuba, and Tokuse, as well as complement the Winneba and Mallam power substations.

The Kasoa BSP is one of the few Gas insulated Switchgears equipped with a Static Var Compensator and expected to benefit about 250,000 residents within the catchment area.

The facility, of which construction works began in February 2020, was executed by Messrs Siemens Energy SAS of France and supervised by SMEC International.

Commissioning the facility at Kasoa in the Central Region, Vice President Bawumia said it was one of the many electricity infrastructures constructed as part of the Electricity Company of Ghana’s Financial and Operational Turnaround Project under the Ghana Power Compact II.

It has a US$316-million funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent agency of the United States Government’s foreign initiative, and a US$31- million counterpart funding from the Government of Ghana.

He said the US Government, through the MCC, had invested US$863 million in vital infrastructures in Ghana for the duration of the two Power Compact programmes from 2012 to date, which had added a wealth of support to the country’s infrastructure requirements.

The Vice President expressed the Akufo-
Addo-Government’s determination to ensure robust, sustainable and reliable power supply to households and businesses, pivotal towards the country’s industrialisation drive.

That would also help ECG’s power transmission operations and distribution network and aid in minimising technical losses.

Dr Bawumia said the Government was undertaking several power infrastructure projects to meet the power demand of the ever-increasing population, saying those projects should be sustained even after the Power Compact Agreement.

Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, the Board Chair of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), in her welcome remarks, said the facility would enhance productivity, incomes and social outcomes for residents in the catchment area.

Out of the 230 key staff and employees who worked on the project, 90 per cent were Ghanaians while 16 per cent were females, she said, noting that it helped in the transfer of essential knowledge and technology to Ghanaians.

Parts of the support fund for the project was also used to construct access roads, walkways and drainage system at the project site.

The Kasoa BSP would be managed by the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Grid Company. It was completed in two-and-half years and within budget. GNA