Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Ghana needs immediate measures to tackle climate change
Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu & Ama A. Baafi, Akosomb
Ghana needs to put in place immediate measures to deal with the economic implications of climate change, which is already having debilitating effects on the various sectors of the economy.
Dr Delali B. Dovie of the Regional Institute of Population Studies at the University of Ghana, who gave the warning said: “The looming crisis will affect sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, health and the country has to rethink its development process and employ scientific findings to contain any effects”.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Akosombo at the on-going Climate Change training for journalists across the country, Dr Dovie said even though it might not reflect directly in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) it would have serious effects on the sectors contributing to it.
The training programme is being sponsored by Africa Adaptation Programme and the International Centre for Journalists.
He said one of the sectors that could seriously be affected was the country’s agriculture sector which depends heavily on rain and is also as major source of employment.
That aside “If we don’t have rain
agriculture will be affected, the Akosombo Hydro plant will shut down and it will affect the country’s energy and it will trickle down to production and people will be out of business,” he said.
Dr Dovie said if the country’s agriculture sector would soon be recording poor yields and some crops would not be able to do well, under the new weather, then income of the poor farmer would diminish.
He said as a matter of urgency, the country should start putting monetary values on losses the country was likely to incur as a result of climate change on various sectors.
Dr Dovie said it was about time that linkages were explored financially, such that if agriculture, industry, energy and other sectors were affected there would be plans to deal with it.
“It is therefore very important that serious steps were taking to plan ahead of time to avert the challenges pose by climate change,” he said.
In the area of infrastructure, he explained that when there was a change in the weather and the floods destroy the roads, water tables falling deep down more financial resources had to be put in to fix it.
“We have to rethink our development process, our planning, action plans as well as our budgetary concerns to ensure that financial implications mostly negative that might emerge from the impact of climate change does not manifest itself in the near future as far as Ghana was concern,” he said.
He said there are various funds available to mitigate the impact of climate change, but many were embedded in the development agenda of all nations, therefore to access them there was the need to justify that there was a need for extra fund to pursue it.
Dr Dovie said currently, most of the development partners were of the view that since climate change adaptation is related to development, it should be the responsibility of governments and not the partners.
“That is where we have insisted science has a role to play to diversify our strategies or our approaches in arriving at some of these justifications to enable us as a country to benefit,” he said.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Trinidad & Tobago firms show interest in Ghana (PAGE 3, JAN 29, 2011)
Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi
Companies in Trinidad & Tobago have expressed interest in the establishment of gas-fed industries near the gas plant in the Jomoro District in the Western Region.
The latest company to express interest is Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings, which has expressed its readiness to establish a multi-billion dollar gas-fed industrial estate and energy city project.
Others include Trinidad and Tobago National Gas Company, Phoenix Park Gas Processors and Point Lisas Industrial Estate.
The districts which have caught the attention of the investors are Axim, Ellembelle and Jomoro.
As a result, the chiefs and people of the selected districts have given their blessing and are currently on a six-day trip to Trinidad & Tobago as part of a partnership arrangement between Nzemaland and the Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings.
At the moment, 2,000 acres of land banks have been earmarked for the projects.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minister of Energy, who spoke to the Daily Graphic from Port of Spain, said the team also visited the $3 billion Point Lisas Industrial Estate, which houses the world’s biggest ammonia plant.
The facility also hosts a total of 103 industries connected to gas feedstock comprising a mix of world-class methanol, ammonia and urea plants, three steel plants, a power plant and service companies.
The Chief Executive of the estate, Mr Nigel Salina, told the delegation that the group was seeking to replicate the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Ghana but on a larger scale.
He said they had resolved to replicate the gas industry in Ghana, since records indicated that the country had more gas associated with the oil than his country.
The delegation also met Mr Andrew Macintosh, the President of the National Gas Company, and Mr Eugene Tieh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Phoenix Park Gas Processors, and other companies that are interested in the Ghana gas project.
For his part, Mr Buah said the focus of the government was to ensure that the gas coming from the jubilee and other fields in the country was harnessed for the benefit of the people of Ghana.
He said the President was of the strong belief that the gas deposit in the country held another avenue for opening doors to the gas industry.
Companies in Trinidad & Tobago have expressed interest in the establishment of gas-fed industries near the gas plant in the Jomoro District in the Western Region.
The latest company to express interest is Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings, which has expressed its readiness to establish a multi-billion dollar gas-fed industrial estate and energy city project.
Others include Trinidad and Tobago National Gas Company, Phoenix Park Gas Processors and Point Lisas Industrial Estate.
The districts which have caught the attention of the investors are Axim, Ellembelle and Jomoro.
As a result, the chiefs and people of the selected districts have given their blessing and are currently on a six-day trip to Trinidad & Tobago as part of a partnership arrangement between Nzemaland and the Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings.
At the moment, 2,000 acres of land banks have been earmarked for the projects.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minister of Energy, who spoke to the Daily Graphic from Port of Spain, said the team also visited the $3 billion Point Lisas Industrial Estate, which houses the world’s biggest ammonia plant.
The facility also hosts a total of 103 industries connected to gas feedstock comprising a mix of world-class methanol, ammonia and urea plants, three steel plants, a power plant and service companies.
The Chief Executive of the estate, Mr Nigel Salina, told the delegation that the group was seeking to replicate the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Ghana but on a larger scale.
He said they had resolved to replicate the gas industry in Ghana, since records indicated that the country had more gas associated with the oil than his country.
The delegation also met Mr Andrew Macintosh, the President of the National Gas Company, and Mr Eugene Tieh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Phoenix Park Gas Processors, and other companies that are interested in the Ghana gas project.
For his part, Mr Buah said the focus of the government was to ensure that the gas coming from the jubilee and other fields in the country was harnessed for the benefit of the people of Ghana.
He said the President was of the strong belief that the gas deposit in the country held another avenue for opening doors to the gas industry.
HEAVY DUTY TRUCKS BANNED... After 6p.m. country-wide (LEAD STORY, JAN 29, 2011)
Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
THE Police Administration has banned the movement of heavy duty trucks country-wide after 6 p.m. as part of measures to curb the carnage on the country’s roads.
After 6 p.m., all checkpoints across the country are supposed to order every heavy duty truck to park and display triangles and reflectors till 6 a.m. the following day.
These were contained in a directive from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, to all Regional Police Commanders in the country.
The directive said the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), was also to conduct a thorough examination of all trucks and offenders should be prosecuted.
It said all long heavy duty and cargo trucks were supposed to park before 6 p.m. in an acceptable manner and completely off the road with enough reflectors to warn other road users.
Regional commanders across the country, it said, were to ensure strict enforcement of the directive, adding that offenders should be dealt with in accordance with the law.
It also directed regional commands to come up with special operations on Fridays to ensure that the roads were free from careless parking and driving.
The Western Regional Police Commander, Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, told the Daily Graphic that the directive indicated that there were various rest spots on the highways and that drivers should be mindful of the time to ensure that they pull over to these places before 6 p.m. and park safely till the following day.
He said the enforcement of the directive in the region started yesterday.
“Today we pulled over 200 vehicles before 6 p.m. and ensured that they parked safely,” he said.
Alhaji Mahama noted that most of the drivers who were stopped looked tired.
THE Police Administration has banned the movement of heavy duty trucks country-wide after 6 p.m. as part of measures to curb the carnage on the country’s roads.
After 6 p.m., all checkpoints across the country are supposed to order every heavy duty truck to park and display triangles and reflectors till 6 a.m. the following day.
These were contained in a directive from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, to all Regional Police Commanders in the country.
The directive said the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), was also to conduct a thorough examination of all trucks and offenders should be prosecuted.
It said all long heavy duty and cargo trucks were supposed to park before 6 p.m. in an acceptable manner and completely off the road with enough reflectors to warn other road users.
Regional commanders across the country, it said, were to ensure strict enforcement of the directive, adding that offenders should be dealt with in accordance with the law.
It also directed regional commands to come up with special operations on Fridays to ensure that the roads were free from careless parking and driving.
The Western Regional Police Commander, Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, told the Daily Graphic that the directive indicated that there were various rest spots on the highways and that drivers should be mindful of the time to ensure that they pull over to these places before 6 p.m. and park safely till the following day.
He said the enforcement of the directive in the region started yesterday.
“Today we pulled over 200 vehicles before 6 p.m. and ensured that they parked safely,” he said.
Alhaji Mahama noted that most of the drivers who were stopped looked tired.
Sea erosion threatens Essipon-Sekondi highway (BACK PAGE, JAN 29,2011)
Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi
THE Essipon-Sekondi highway, one of the busy roads in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, is being threatened by sea erosion.
Experts say if nothing is done immediately the road could cave in because of the heavy traffic it carries.
Strong tidal waves at Ngyeresia have cut off parts of the road and currently the distance between the road and the sea cliff, measured last Thursday by a civil engineer is less than a metre.
Strangely, motorists, mainly fully loaded timber and quarry trucks, have not noticed the danger and keep plying the road.
Other heavy mining and oil drilling equipment is also transported on this road to and from Takoradi and Home Port of the Western Naval Command.
A private civil engineer who pleaded anonymity after taking the Daily Graphic round the danger spots indicated that if nothing was done immediately it could lead to a serious fatality, since the dangerous cliff is on the blind side of the motoring public.
The current traffic on the road, he said, was too much and was not factored into the initial design of the road and expressed the hope that the authorities would not wait for any disaster before moving to save the situation.
Indications picked by the Daily Graphic were that even though the maintenance of that road falls under the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing has to first construct a sea defence wall before any meaningful work could be done.
At the moment, one of the best solutions, the experts said, was to close the road to traffic, which would mean residents from Shama, Ituma, Inchaban and Essipon, would have to detour through Ketan or Kojokrom before entering Sekondi/Takoradi.
THE Essipon-Sekondi highway, one of the busy roads in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, is being threatened by sea erosion.
Experts say if nothing is done immediately the road could cave in because of the heavy traffic it carries.
Strong tidal waves at Ngyeresia have cut off parts of the road and currently the distance between the road and the sea cliff, measured last Thursday by a civil engineer is less than a metre.
Strangely, motorists, mainly fully loaded timber and quarry trucks, have not noticed the danger and keep plying the road.
Other heavy mining and oil drilling equipment is also transported on this road to and from Takoradi and Home Port of the Western Naval Command.
A private civil engineer who pleaded anonymity after taking the Daily Graphic round the danger spots indicated that if nothing was done immediately it could lead to a serious fatality, since the dangerous cliff is on the blind side of the motoring public.
The current traffic on the road, he said, was too much and was not factored into the initial design of the road and expressed the hope that the authorities would not wait for any disaster before moving to save the situation.
Indications picked by the Daily Graphic were that even though the maintenance of that road falls under the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing has to first construct a sea defence wall before any meaningful work could be done.
At the moment, one of the best solutions, the experts said, was to close the road to traffic, which would mean residents from Shama, Ituma, Inchaban and Essipon, would have to detour through Ketan or Kojokrom before entering Sekondi/Takoradi.
Trinidad & Tobago pledges support to gas industry (PAGE 51, JAN 31, 2011)
Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Takoradi
Trinidad & Tobago has pledged her maximum co-operation to ensure that Ghana’s natural gas from the Jubilee Field is well harnessed.
This is to help Ghana to derive full benefit from the gas, which could lead to the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar, gave the assurance when a team of chiefs from the coastal paramountcies of the Western Region, led by the Deputy Energy Minister and member of the National Gas Commercialisation Task Force, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, visited that country on an investment drive.
Mrs Bissessar said her government had approved in principle to co-operate with Ghana on the exploitation of the country’s natural gas.
She said the Caribbean nation depended 100 per cent on natural gas for its entire energy needs of some 1,500 megawatts.
“We now have the expertise and knowledge and Ghana has acknowledged that. We hope that Ghana will approve of our proposal to make this expertise available to her,” she said.
Mrs Bissessar said the move was much in tune with her country’s vision of greater south-south co-operation among members of the Commonwealth, which included Ghana and several African and Caribbean nations.
She said co-operation between Ghana and her country was the first time her country had had the opportunity to go out of the island to share its experience and expertise for the benefit of another producer country.
She expressed the hope that the partnership would be of immense mutual benefit to the the peoples of the two countries.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Buah, said the Ghana Government was excited about the partnership with Trinidad & Tobago and that the nation was open to business.
He said it was the determination of President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration to ensure that the hydrocarbon discovery and production in Ghana brings benefits to Ghanaians.
Mr Buah said the government would ensure greater accountability and transparency, and protect the interest of Ghana to ensure that the country adoptsthe best standards in the oil and gas industry.
For his part, Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Vice-President of the National House of Chiefs and board member of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, lauded the growing co-operation between the two countries.
Other members of the delegation were paramount chiefs of Western Nzema, Awulae Annor Agyaye and Awulae Amihere Kpainyinli, Mrs Catherine Afeku, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue Gwira, the chief executives of Jomoro and Ellembele districts and Nzema East Municipality.
Aklorbortu, Takoradi
Trinidad & Tobago has pledged her maximum co-operation to ensure that Ghana’s natural gas from the Jubilee Field is well harnessed.
This is to help Ghana to derive full benefit from the gas, which could lead to the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar, gave the assurance when a team of chiefs from the coastal paramountcies of the Western Region, led by the Deputy Energy Minister and member of the National Gas Commercialisation Task Force, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, visited that country on an investment drive.
Mrs Bissessar said her government had approved in principle to co-operate with Ghana on the exploitation of the country’s natural gas.
She said the Caribbean nation depended 100 per cent on natural gas for its entire energy needs of some 1,500 megawatts.
“We now have the expertise and knowledge and Ghana has acknowledged that. We hope that Ghana will approve of our proposal to make this expertise available to her,” she said.
Mrs Bissessar said the move was much in tune with her country’s vision of greater south-south co-operation among members of the Commonwealth, which included Ghana and several African and Caribbean nations.
She said co-operation between Ghana and her country was the first time her country had had the opportunity to go out of the island to share its experience and expertise for the benefit of another producer country.
She expressed the hope that the partnership would be of immense mutual benefit to the the peoples of the two countries.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Buah, said the Ghana Government was excited about the partnership with Trinidad & Tobago and that the nation was open to business.
He said it was the determination of President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration to ensure that the hydrocarbon discovery and production in Ghana brings benefits to Ghanaians.
Mr Buah said the government would ensure greater accountability and transparency, and protect the interest of Ghana to ensure that the country adoptsthe best standards in the oil and gas industry.
For his part, Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Vice-President of the National House of Chiefs and board member of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, lauded the growing co-operation between the two countries.
Other members of the delegation were paramount chiefs of Western Nzema, Awulae Annor Agyaye and Awulae Amihere Kpainyinli, Mrs Catherine Afeku, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue Gwira, the chief executives of Jomoro and Ellembele districts and Nzema East Municipality.
BOY, 13, GUNS DOWN LUNATIC (1C, JAN 31, 2011
Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Sekondi
A 13-year-old primary schoolboy shocked residents of Enhuutem-Eniehu, near Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region, last Friday when he shot and killed a man believed to be mentally unstable.
The boy, Amos Okrah, was said to have used his father’s shotgun to commit the offence.
The gunshot woke the community up at about 12:30 a.m. last Friday, but residents were confined to their rooms, assuming that armed robbers had attacked the village.
Those who later mustered courage and came out of their rooms, were horrified to see the deceased, Victor Amankwah, lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
The incident occurred in the absence of the boy’s father, who was said to have travelled to the Brong Ahafo Region to attend to some family issues, leaving Okrah and his siblings behind and with the gun in the room.
According to the police, the only explanation the little boy could give was that the deceased entered their compound about 12:30 a.m., using the machete he was wielding to hit an empty aluminium pot left outside.
“I came out several times to ask him to stop but he would not mind me. Then I went for the gun and shot him,” Little Amos told the police.
According to him, his father had travelled and the deceased was disturbing him and his siblings by using the machete to hit the empty pot.
The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital, while Amos has been taken into custody.
The police said the boy’s father had been contacted to report immediately to help in investigations.
It would be recalled that last December a similar incident occurred at Magagia Camp, also near Sefwi-Wiawso, when a four-year-old boy shot his seven-year-old sister when he was playing with his father’s shotgun.
Aklorbortu, Sekondi
A 13-year-old primary schoolboy shocked residents of Enhuutem-Eniehu, near Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region, last Friday when he shot and killed a man believed to be mentally unstable.
The boy, Amos Okrah, was said to have used his father’s shotgun to commit the offence.
The gunshot woke the community up at about 12:30 a.m. last Friday, but residents were confined to their rooms, assuming that armed robbers had attacked the village.
Those who later mustered courage and came out of their rooms, were horrified to see the deceased, Victor Amankwah, lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
The incident occurred in the absence of the boy’s father, who was said to have travelled to the Brong Ahafo Region to attend to some family issues, leaving Okrah and his siblings behind and with the gun in the room.
According to the police, the only explanation the little boy could give was that the deceased entered their compound about 12:30 a.m., using the machete he was wielding to hit an empty aluminium pot left outside.
“I came out several times to ask him to stop but he would not mind me. Then I went for the gun and shot him,” Little Amos told the police.
According to him, his father had travelled and the deceased was disturbing him and his siblings by using the machete to hit the empty pot.
The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital, while Amos has been taken into custody.
The police said the boy’s father had been contacted to report immediately to help in investigations.
It would be recalled that last December a similar incident occurred at Magagia Camp, also near Sefwi-Wiawso, when a four-year-old boy shot his seven-year-old sister when he was playing with his father’s shotgun.
MORE GAS TO FLOW... As multi-billion Jubilee Gas Project begins (LEAD STORY, JAN 31, 2011)
Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi
WORK has begun on the multi-billion dollar Jubilee Gas Project to harness the country’s natural gas deposits with the laying of flow lines to pipe the gas from the Jubilee Field to the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
Technip, the company which did the subsea installation for oil production for the Jubilee partners, has been contracted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to engineer, weld and install a 14-kilometre rigid steel flow line under Phase I of the project for onward extension to the shore.
Under the current phase, the flow lines will be connected to the gas export riser linked to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah for onward transportation to the shore.
Officials say the flow lines will constitute the deep-water section of a pipeline which will be used to pipe natural gas from the Jubilee Field to the onshore processing plant.
At the moment the move by the country to harness its natural gas has attracted the attention of power producers and other companies that are interested in the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol using natural gas.
Technip has successfully completed the fabrication and spooling of the 14 kilometres of 12,75-inch flow lines on board the laying vessel, Apache II, at the Technip Spool Base in Alabama, USA, and the vessel is expected to arrive in Ghana next Thursday.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Ghana Country Manager for Technip, Mr Stephane Sole, said the company did not engage only its own expertise but also involved some officials of GNPC in the process of designing and welding the flow lines, as well as the procurement and engineering staff at its Paris office during the preparation phase.
He said the move was to afford Technip the opportunity to transfer its skills and knowledge to Ghana through the GNPC, a policy which was in line with its resolve not only to work for the country but also enhance the skills of Ghanaians, whom he described as curious and highly trainable.
Mr Sole said the onshore operations would be run from the Sekondi Naval Base which had supported Technip since its arrival in the country.
The Apache II, he said, was fully loaded with the flow lines and would start work immediately it arrived, as the initial preparations had been concluded.
He said the offshore operations would integrate workers from the GNPC to attend to the operations offshore, saying, “Within our onshore team to support the offshore operations there will also be the involvement of the GNPC team during the whole project, from engineering to installation.”
Mr Sole said there had been meetings with lead operators of the Jubilee Field partners, including the GNPC, and they had been very co-operative.
“From the beginning of the project, the permanent and effective communication among the GNPC, Tullow Oil and the partners and Technip will be one of the key factors for the success of these operations,” he said.
WORK has begun on the multi-billion dollar Jubilee Gas Project to harness the country’s natural gas deposits with the laying of flow lines to pipe the gas from the Jubilee Field to the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
Technip, the company which did the subsea installation for oil production for the Jubilee partners, has been contracted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to engineer, weld and install a 14-kilometre rigid steel flow line under Phase I of the project for onward extension to the shore.
Under the current phase, the flow lines will be connected to the gas export riser linked to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah for onward transportation to the shore.
Officials say the flow lines will constitute the deep-water section of a pipeline which will be used to pipe natural gas from the Jubilee Field to the onshore processing plant.
At the moment the move by the country to harness its natural gas has attracted the attention of power producers and other companies that are interested in the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol using natural gas.
Technip has successfully completed the fabrication and spooling of the 14 kilometres of 12,75-inch flow lines on board the laying vessel, Apache II, at the Technip Spool Base in Alabama, USA, and the vessel is expected to arrive in Ghana next Thursday.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Ghana Country Manager for Technip, Mr Stephane Sole, said the company did not engage only its own expertise but also involved some officials of GNPC in the process of designing and welding the flow lines, as well as the procurement and engineering staff at its Paris office during the preparation phase.
He said the move was to afford Technip the opportunity to transfer its skills and knowledge to Ghana through the GNPC, a policy which was in line with its resolve not only to work for the country but also enhance the skills of Ghanaians, whom he described as curious and highly trainable.
Mr Sole said the onshore operations would be run from the Sekondi Naval Base which had supported Technip since its arrival in the country.
The Apache II, he said, was fully loaded with the flow lines and would start work immediately it arrived, as the initial preparations had been concluded.
He said the offshore operations would integrate workers from the GNPC to attend to the operations offshore, saying, “Within our onshore team to support the offshore operations there will also be the involvement of the GNPC team during the whole project, from engineering to installation.”
Mr Sole said there had been meetings with lead operators of the Jubilee Field partners, including the GNPC, and they had been very co-operative.
“From the beginning of the project, the permanent and effective communication among the GNPC, Tullow Oil and the partners and Technip will be one of the key factors for the success of these operations,” he said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)