The Power Ministry is expected to engage the management and staff of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Thursday.
Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, says the meeting will afford the Ministry opportunity to address the concerns of the staff regarding the decision to cede three assets of VRA to a private company.
“We are [expected] to meet them to delve into their concerns. If they have legitimate concerns we will engage them,” he told Joy News.
Workers of VRA agitated over plans by the government to give three assets belonging to the nation’s power generating company namely T3 plant at the Aboadze thermal enclave, MRP at the Tema Thermal Power station and a parcel of land at Kpone Thermal Power Station to AMERI, Sunon-Asogli and the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC).
They argue government’s decision breaches section (2) of the Volta River Development ACT, 1961 (ACT 46) – the establishing document of VRA.
The ACT has given the Authority the autonomy to undertake activities and supervises its own assets, but the government, through some faceless persons is using interference and manipulations.
They threatened to demonstrate and back it with a possible strike which many have described as unprecedented in the history of the company, Joynews’ Kojo Manu reported.
A meeting by the Power Minister, Seth Terkper, and his deputy to calm the nerves of the workers failed.
But the Mr Jinapor says the workers did not get the right information regarding VRA assets.
“With the T3 plant it’s been indolent for years and we believe that we can get a strategic partner to bring the plant up and eventually hand it over to VRA,” he said, adding, it is not as though the government is interested in “dissipating the assets of VRA.”
He believes a constant engagement of the workers and management by the Ministry, explaining the rationale behind the decision will help them to come to a “common ground for the mutual benefit of both VRA and the country at large.”
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved the $647 million deal for the construction of 400 megawatts combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Tema.
Even though the minority has raised red flags regarding the cost of the plant, Mr Jinapor says the deal is the best the nation could have got in the market.
The deal is cost effective and the nation stands a chance of benefitting, he said.
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