News:
April 27, 2020
Erratic power supply at the Ningo-Prampram industrial enclave is affecting the operations of one of the biggest steel companies within the West African sub-region, B5 Plus Limited, under the One District, Once factory (1D1F) programme.
A visit by Ghanamps.com on Friday April 24, 2020 to the factory of the giant steel importer and exporter witnessed most of the workers idle because there was no power for the company to work because of its fluctuating nature.
This is after more than a month’s working visit by the Government Assurance Committee to the company on its field verification tour, tracking some promises made by the Trade and Industry Minister.
Mr. Mike Thakwani, Chief Executive Officer of the company in an interview pointed out that he would need one hundred megawatt of power yearly, but the current forty megawatt is also a problem.
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“You see people waiting to have electricity to work, the power fluctuation is so much and unbearable, we do not have electricity we were not informed in advance, so just imagine that we are running our machines and the power goes off”, he queried.
Unhappy with the situation, Mr. Thakwani noted that B5 Plus is creating jobs, employing Ghanaians in thousands, paying taxes, saving foreign currency as most of the structures at the company are Ghanaian made.
He thanked the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurance but was worried that three issues he raised, electricity, water and land has unfortunately not been resolved.
“As an investor, when land has been gotten genuinely I should be free from land litigation among families so that I do not surfer as an investor”.
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“We are pleading with government to assist us have direct power supply as we are unable to run fifty percent capacity of our machines and no financial institution would be willing to support with funds to give new machines with the current situation”, he lamented.
Again, he noted that their production is down by thirty (30) percent because of electricity issues and added that another problem is supply of water which forces them to get water outside the Prampram enclave.
He stated however that despite the challenges, work has started on the ground with the hope that power supply would be boosted as promised by government, “We believe in Ghana and hoping for positive results”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com