President John Evans Atta Mills says he is determined to broker a deal for a reliable gas supply from Nigeria to boost electricity production in Ghana. He said the government would do everything possible to ensure that power generation plants, particularly the newly built Sunon Asogli Power plant, had gas to generate electricity to supplement the country's current stock. During a visit to the Sunon Asogli Power Ghana Limited at Kpone, near Tema, yesterday ahead of a trip to Abuja, Nigeria, on Friday to discuss the gas supply issue, President Mills hoped to hold fruitful talks with his Nigerian counterpart for immediate supply of gas to Ghana. Yesterday's visit to the plant, he explained, was to give him a better understanding of the problems inhibiting gas supply to enable the Asogli plant to be operational and to enable him to have meaningful discussions in Nigeria. The first phase of the Sunon Asogli Power project, which is a joint venture between China Africa Development Fund and Shenzhen Energy Group Limited of China, has been completed and ready to generate over 200 megawatts of electricity. However the absence of gas supply from the West African Gas Pipeline has made the facility redundant. The plant is expected to generate a total of 560 megawatts of power when the second phase is completed. Natural compressed gas began flowing through the West Africa as Pipeline which was completed last year for power generation n Ghana, Togo and Benin. However, the supply had been unreliable due to an increase in the demand of gas as well as the closure of some oil pipelines in Nigeria as a result of destruction caused by militants. As a result of the short supply, the production of power in Ghana had been affected as one of the thermal plants at Aboadze, hat has been converted to use gas is not working due to unavailability of the commodity, while the Sunon Asogli plant is sitting idle. "Now the ball is in our court to deal with the issue," President Mills admitted after touring the Sunon Asogli plant. The President, who was impressed about the project, said it was in line with the government's objective to double the country's power generation capacity to 5,000 megawatts in the medium ¬term. He stressed the importance of shifting to the use of gas for power generation, explaining that it was much cheaper for power production which would also ensure that Ghanaians have access to affordable electricity. In addition, he said, the use of gas would result in providing adequate power that could boost the country's industrialisation drive, since affordable energy was necessary for industries to survive. The government, he said also intended building a gas plant at Effaso in the Western region. "On our part as government, we will give you the fullest support so that you can help us build a better Ghana," he told the management of the plant. He commended the management for the investment which he said apart from the affordable power, also created jobs and transfer from China to Ghana. President Mills urged other investors to consider directing their investments to the energy sector and assured them of a safe and friendly business atmosphere once they abided by investment regulations. On the social responsibility aspect, President Mills asked the company to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of the workers and the community in which it was operating, as besides adopting good environmental practices. He also urged workers to support the company to work hard for the company to achieve its objectives for the benefit of the entire country. The President wished the company well and promised to work on their concerns. Li Xiao Hai, Chairman of the company, which was pioneered by Togbe Afede XIV, Paramount Chief of Ho Asogli in the Volta Region, commended the President for his interest in the project. He said it was the objective of the company to become the energy resource hub in the country, and to complement the efforts of government to end electricity rationing, industrial shut downs and labour layoffs as a result of inadequate power supply. "We want to inform the government that with the supply of gas today, we can generate power tomorrow," he said, and appealed to the government and other stakeholders to expedite action on the gas supply arrangement through the West African Gas Pipeline. The West African Gas Pipeline, which was started in 2004, was completed last year to help make lower cost fuel in Nigeria available for power generation in Ghana, Togo and Benin. The project is a1so expected to reduce the cost of electricity supply in the three countries by replacing oil with gas imported from Nigeria. It is a 678 kilometre long pipeline, laid onshore and offshore from the gas reserves in Nigeria's Escravos region of Niger Delta area to Benin, Togo and Ghana. It is the first regional natural gas transmission system in sub-Saharan Africa. Source: Times