Plans to relocate GNPC to Western Region bad – STRANEK

The incoming government’s plans to relocate the headquarters of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to the Western region is a bad idea and not advisable, Policy think tank, Strategic Thinkers Network (STRANEK) has stated.

According to the group in a statement signed by the Executive Directors, Nii Tettey Tetteh and Charles Kwadade, it said, “Relocation of GNPC [headquarters] will lead to wasteful expenditure where there will be huge cost incurred. Costs of relocation are undoubtedly higher and they can be higher than anticipated. At a juncture where there is likely to be oil found in other regions such as Volta Region, specifically the Keta basin, one can imagine the cost of relocation as and when oil is discovered in a region. It then makes relocation of GNPC a not well-thought through promise hence a promise in bad taste.”

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Nana Addo has pledged to fulfill a campaign promise to relocate the headquarters of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to the Western Region.

Nana Addo said he will also make the region the hub of oil and gas when he assumes office.

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During a visit to the Western regional House of Chiefs as part of his Thank You tour after winning the elections, he said, “The commitments that we have made are commitments that are going to be fulfilled. We are going to relocate the headquarters of GNPC to this region.”

He expressed gratitude to the chiefs for their support and asked for their prayers and support to help restore integrity in governance to fulfil the high expectations Ghanaians have reposed in him.

But STRANEK said, “The disruption the relocation of GNPC is likely to cause is another factor which makes the promise seem to look like the NPP is going ahead of itself. What activities will be going on at GNPC at the time of the relocation vis-à-vis transition since oil is likely to be discovered in other regions such as Volta Region? It is [for] these and a litany of factors that we deem it fit to ask the NPP to hasten slowly with regards to the GNPC relocation promise,” he added.