Amewu explains recent outages; says it is power outage not 'dumsor'

The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, has described the recent limted supply to certain parts of the country as power outages and not 'dumsor'

He assured Ghanaians that there was no meaans of the country returning to the era of 'dumsor' where power was taken and given at particular times.

According to him the government is working assiduously to address the situation and also ensure that the power system of Ghana functions effectively.

“Let me state that the events that led to challenges that the power system of Ghana experienced are by no means the return of “dumsor”. We are working assiduously to address the situation,” he said.

Amewu gave the assurance when he briefed parliament about the recent power disturbances that occurred on the Ghana Power System on Tuesday, March 12 and Wednesday, March 13, 2019.

He said the main cause of the blackout was the ongoing construction of the interchange at Pokuase which necessitated the diversion of GRIDCOs 330kv transmission lines that runs from Tema to Aboadze.

Amewu further explained that it became necessary to temporarily limit power flow through the coastal corridor to facilitate stability of the entire transmission network while work is completed on the diversion of the line at Pokuase.

“This issue is thus a pure operational and technical challenge at the transmission stage, it has nothing to do with technical faults at the generation or distribution stage of the power value chain” he added.

Meanwhile, the minority in Parliament attributed the recent power outages across the country to liquidity challenges in the power sector and asked government to be candid with Ghanaians and release a load shedding timetable to help consumers plan their activities.