Veep advises West African countries to utilise energy opportunities - GhanaHomePage

General News of Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Source: GNA

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday appealed to West African countries to make judicious use of all power generating activities that could help sustain their industrial pursuit.

He said good management of oil and gas for both domestic and commercial utilisation could also encourage investors to establish industries and other commercial institutions.

Vice President Mahama said it is difficult for West Africa to step up production levels to create jobs and alleviate poverty without sufficient energy to sustain the business entities.

He made the appeal when he launched a two-day West African Gas Stakeholders Forum in Accra.

The Forum being attended by participants from Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast among other countries would discuss energy needs, existing and projected gas requirement, domestic and gas market and policy development in the West African Sub-Region.

It was organised by the World Bank, West African Gas Pipe-line Company in collaboration with ECOWAS, West African Gas Pipeline Authority and the Volta River Authority.

Vice President Mahama said although the West African Pipe line Gas Company had been erratic and disappointing of late, there was the need to increase the output to ensure regular supply to the sub-region for both domestic and industrialisation consumption.

He said Ghana for the past month had to resort to power rationing due to power shortage at the Asogli Gas Plant leaving a deficit of 200,000 megawatts and gave the assurance that government would put up measures that would curb the perennial power shortages.

Vice President Mahama called on the participants to outline their challenges and create a bigger platform to strategise to solve such challenges in subsequent meetings.

Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, a Deputy Minister of Energy said government would step up oil revenue management, investment framework, security, natural gas utilisation and commercialisation to become a net exporter of oil and gas and a major player in the global petroleum industry.

He said the completion of the Bui Hydro-Electricity Project would extend electricity and other sources of energy to 70 per cent of Ghanaians, particularly in the rural areas.

Mr Buah said government would also support sustained regeneration of woody biomass resources, promote the establishment of woodlots for charcoal and promote the production and use of improved and efficient biomass utilisation technologies as part of measures to sustain the supply of wood fuels policy direction.**

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Stop giving excuses, advises Awang Tengah

by By Jeremy Veno. Posted on January 30, 2012, Monday

THUMBS UP: Awang Tengah (second left) shows the items on sale at Leni Spice, together with Belawai assemblyman Len Talif (fourth left) and Semop assemblyman Abdullah Saidol (left).

KUCHING: The Bumiputera community must stop using financial constraints or lack of business opportunities as excuses for not venturing into the business sector.

Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said they should also eradicate the culture of becoming dormant shareholders in profit-driven companies.

Launching Leni Spice at Jalan Satok here yesterday, Awang Tengah said there were quite a number of places to obtain financial aid and training for different businesses, including from the Sarawak SEDC.

“The government is always on hand to help those in need of financial support, promotions or training. We (Bumiputera) have to become catalysts for development. We must nurture a determination for success.

“Let us not make money as the problem that hinders a person from starting a business.”

In terms of business opportunities, he said one area worth exploring was the halal market. He said the state government was bent on turning Tanjung Manis into the biggest halal hub in the country, and the Bumiputera community should brace themselves to take full advantage of this initiative.

“The global halal market has reached RM2.3 trillion presently, while the halal market in Malaysia is worth only about RM1.9 billion. The halal hub is aimed at drawing investors into the state, and I do not want the Bumiputera community to
become spectators sitting on the sidelines.”

On Bumiputera entrepreneurs who are dormant shareholders, Awang Tengah cautioned: “When a person becomes a dormant shareholder, they would not learn anything from the business.

“You should work closely with the other races, especially the Chinese, who are leaders in commerce and industry.”

Touching on the Government Transformation Plan (GTP), he explained that it was meant to transform the nation into a high income society by 2020.

When this target is achieved, the gap between the poor and the rich would narrow substantially, irrespective of whether they are in the rural or urban areas.

“When the gap is too wide, it would cause problems to the nation in terms of unity and safety.”

On Leni Spice, a sundry shop which sells fresh food items from Belawai, Awang Tengah said its establishment would enable locals and tourists to taste delicacies from the Melanau community.

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