Power barge arrives in 3 weeks – Power Ministry insists

The Power Ministry insists the 225-megawatt power barge procured by the government from Turkey to augment the country’s electricity shortfall has set sail contrary to media reports suggesting the ship is still in Istanbul.

Media reports on Tuesday morning claimed the power barge being brought by Kar Power was yet to leave the shores of Turkey due to difficulty in getting fuel that will power the barge upon its arrival in Ghana.

The report claimed as at November 2, Ghanaian authorities were seeking partnership for the provision of fuel, on which the power barge would run upon arrival at the fishing harbour’s man-made semi-submerged maritime structure, to prevent the barge from drifting to shallow ground.

But speaking to TV3 on Tuesday morning, the Head of Public Affairs of the Ministry, Kweku Sersah-Johnson refuted the claims, saying, “I want to say categorically that it is not true,” noting that the barge is due to arrive in three weeks time.

“The Kar Power ship has set sail. We are expecting it in the waters of Ghana in the next three weeks, of course, dependent on marine and weather conditions. If everything goes according to what we know and what we are told by the manufacturers, by three weeks time the Kar Power ship should be in Ghana,” he stated.

“When it took off on Tuesday in Istanbul, we were told that it had undergone some Custom quarantine for international custom reasons. You cannot just take off from somebody’s country and go off like that, so it went for Customs duties and other things,” he clarified.

Touching on the issue of fuel to power the barge on arrival, Mr. Sersah-Johnson said that was a non-issue because the manufacturers have already signed an agreement to that effect with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

“Kar Power has entered into an agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and they are going to fuel it as soon as it arrives so fueling will not be a problem at all; that story is not true at all. If anything the manufacturers I believe may be obligated to fuel it from that place to Accra,” he stated.

He said the platform on which the barge will berth as well as the transmission lines to connect the barge to the national grid had all been completed ahead of the arrival.