A civil society organisation has kicked against the decision of the Volta River Authority (VRA) to establish a coal-fired power plant at Ekumfi in the Central Region.
The organisation, known as 350 Ghana Reducing our Carbon (G-ROC) said emissions from the coal would affect the health of the people in the area.
The VRA is collaborating with the Shenzhen Energy Group Company Limited of China (SEC) to develop coal-fired generating unites at Ekumfi.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, the Coordinator of G-ROC, Mr Ezekiel Chibeze, said the group agreed that there was an urgency to provide sufficient energy to meet increasing demand.
However, he said, G-ROC believed that generating power through coal “would be suicidal to the future of Ghana.”
Rather, he said, VRA should opt for renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind or biogas.
Mr Chibeze said if the VRA went ahead with the coal plant project, the country would violate the recent Paris climate change agreement, which required countries to work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Besides, he said, Ghana could be accused of going contrary to its obligation under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which demanded of countries to ensure access to sustainable energy for all.
He blamed SEC for failing to do due diligence to comply with China’s guidelines for environmental protection in foreign investment and cooperation.
Mr Chibeze said the VRA had conducted a research at Ekumfi, which indicated that the VRA had failed to respond to issues that G-ROC had raised regarding the study.
For instance, he said, the group wanted VRA’s response to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relating to the need to consider other types of coal plants.
The group also wanted to know the kind of job opportunities to be created from the project and the skills required.
Mr Chibeze said G-ROC had interviews chiefs and opinion leaders at Ekumfi about their perspectives of the coal-fired plant, and indicated that the people were not fully sure of what the coal plant had in store for them.
He said the people had expressed concern about the effect that the coal plant would have on the environment.
Mr Chibeze said the youth were in high expectation of the jobs promised, but they had no idea of the kinds of jobs to be created.
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