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A former Deputy Minister for Power in the erstwhile John Mahama administration, John Jinapor has urged government not to ‘rush’ into the sale of thermal plants at the Volta River Authority (VRA).

He said “it is important that government engages further…”

Mr Jinapor who was speaking in an interview on Citi Eyewitness news, Tuesday said government “should not rush into selling those thermal plants…let’s pull back and let’s consult…I believe strongly that the thermal plants have not been a waste, it has not been an albatross” because according to him “but for them (thermal plants), electricity prices would have been high that we couldn’t pay”

The solution according to him, is to pay for those thermal plant when they generate energy; adding “as it stands today, VRA is not receiving fully the tariff that PURC has guaranteed to them. So first of all let’s pay what is due them even if it is low and challenge them to improve the level of efficiency; that doesn’t mean the management and staff are inefficient, all we are saying is that there is room for improvement".

According to him, the workers who are opposing the sale of the thermal plants are making a 'valid point' and that government should listen instead of 'rushing to sell the thermal plants'.

Background

The government last month advertised the sale of at least the majority stake of some thermal plants owned by the VRA.

The sale forms “part of the government’s efforts to restructure the energy sector.”

Government also said the VRA was not doing a good enough job with the management of the thermal plants, and should focus on just hydro power generation.

However, Employees of the VRA, say the proposed sale of its thermal plants by government can’t address the problems of the power producer.

According to the workers, the sale will result in, among other things astronomical electricity bills, power distribution to key institutions if bills are not paid on time and layoffs.