The Member of Parliament-elect for the Shama Constituency in the Western Region, Ato Panford, has justified calls on the incoming government to relocate the Head office of the Ghana National petroleum Commission (GNPC) to the region.
Mr. Panford, an industrialist, and a former Vice President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), He argues that, the plan will facilitate the long-term goal of making the Western Region a hub for oil and gas.
The African Center for Energy Policy, ACEP, has kicked against NPP’s plans to relocate the headquarters of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to the Western Region.
Speaking at a media interaction in Accra, the Head of Policy Unit of ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said the decision will put policy makers in a tight corner, since oil exploration will commence in some other regions as well.
President-Elect, Nana Akufo Addo, during his thank you tour of the Western Region, reaffirmed his pledge to relocate the offices of the GNPC to the region, to enable the region benefit more from the oil find.
In a Citi News interview, Mr. Ato Panford, a first-time MP, argued that a conscious effort has to be made to consolidate all the gains made in the oil and gas industry in the Western Region.
“A lot of natural and mineral resources are mined or extracted from this region, and we cannot as a region point to any substantial benefit from these resources. The oil find provides us another opportunity to use a major resource like the oil to develop the region.”
“GNPC headquartered in the region will move a lot of investments here to change the status-quo of the down-stream direct economic impact of the industry, and a lot of our local people will directly and indirectly benefit from the relocation. Everything can’t be in Accra and we need to spread development across the country, and this relocation is essential and necessary if we are to achieve the needed development in the oil and gas sector’, he said.
Ato Panford mentioned the impact of the VRA Thermal plant located at Aboadzie, which led to the construction of the VRA Hospital, and International School, as well as the Corporate Social Responsibility impact, which has supported the Aboadze Township and its environs.
“The relocation can highly improve the socio-economic dynamics of the region, and hope for the youth to strife higher to become part of this industry through deliberate and strategic support of the educating and developing the skills to strife hard to find themselves meritoriously into the industry through Technical Education in the region.”
Dr. K.K Sarpong is reported to be the named the next CEO of GNPC, and he is expected to spearhead the relocation of the corporation’s office to the Western Region.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
