VRA Guns For Shiroro Dam

By Samuel Boadi The Volta River Authority (VRA) would soon be operating Shiroro, one of Nigeria’s biggest dams with power generation capacity of 600 megawatts. This is expected to enhance VRA’s expansion drive since Nigeria was currently embarking on a massive privatization of its energy generation companies. The VRA, which has been invited to bid, has had to lose $50 million every month as a result of the lifting of crude oil from Nigeria to carry out its operations. This follows the shutdown of the West Africa Gas Pipeline since August, this year which has negatively impacted its operations. Kweku Awotwi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VRA, who made this known, was delivering a speech at the biennial national congress of the VRA Senior Staff Association at Akosombo at the weekend. According to him, Ghana’s crude oil was not up to the specification needed by VRA in its operation. He added that despite the gas pipeline problem that had affected the VRA, it still made profits in 2011. The CEO said VRA posted a profit of about GH¢40 million in 2011, noting that it was an attainment which had not been recorded in many years. In order to bridge the power gap in the country’s energy supply due to the shutdown of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAGPCo), his outfit and the Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) are collaborating to execute a project that will generate 300 megawatts of power by the end of 2012. He said despite the challenges, VRA was making strides to cooperate with its staff, indicating that his outfit would ensure that immediate measures were put in place to contain the situation.