WASHITINGTON, June 23, 2010―The World Bank Group today approved an additional amount of US$70 million for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP).
The project is to help ECG to further overhaul overage substations and supply lines with the aim to reduce technical losses, improve supply quality to clients, connect more customers, and increase revenue collection in the project areas.
The first GEDAP was approved in 2007 to improve the operational efficiency of the electricity distribution system and increase the population’s access to power and to help transition Ghana to a low-carbon economy through the reduction of green house gas emissions. It has three main components: (a) Sector and Institutional Development; (b) Electricity Distribution Improvement; and (c) Electricity Access and Renewable Energy. The current additional financing is in response to a request to assist with expansion in ongoing activities to scale up project impact and effectiveness. The bulk of the proposed activities would be focused on improving the electricity distribution network and service delivery in the Ashanti Region, where ECG losses are the highest, and the demand growth is the fastest.
According to Ishac Diwan, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, “It is the hope of the Bank that this additional financing will be utilized with dispatch to minimize electricity outages. We also hope that this can help further increase access, in deprived areas, to reliable electricity.”
The World Bank would lend to the Government of Ghana on terms and conditions of the International Development Association: 35-year maturity, 10-year grace period and 0.75 point service fee. ECG would cover the currency exchange risk. The funds would be on-lent to ECG by the Government of Ghana on the same terms and conditions as those in the original GEDAP Financing Agreement. ECG will be solely responsible for implementation of the proposed scaled-up activities under the additional financing.
