The private sector participation (PSP) in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is to take off fully by February, 2019, Boakye Agyarko, Minister of Energy, has said.

“The processes being considered under the Electricity Company Ghana private sector participation has gone through and by February 2019 the PSP will take over ECG and start its operations,” he said.

In a speech read on his behalf on Wednesday, during a durbar to mark the 10th anniversary celebration of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), Mr Agyarko said, “We are expecting a lot more efficiency in revenue collection, power delivery in the system and the general management of the distribution networks.”

The PSP is one of the interventions by government to ensure that there is liquidity in the power sector.

“Government is very hopeful that the reform will definitely make the power sector a better place,” he said, adding that, “Currently we are at the final stages of meeting all the conditions precedent to the PSP coming into force in February and a committee has been set up to ensure that the rest of the 45 conditions outstanding are met by January 2019 for a smooth take off.”

Apart from that, Mr Agyarko assured that government was putting various interventions in place to ensure that GRIDCo gets its right financial footing to undertake projects, and said, “GRIDCo is about the first biggest investment unit in the country with more than $400 million in transmission networks.”

He noted the ministry was fully aware of the financial difficulties facing the company and it would support it to succeed, and urged the staff of the company to continue to make sacrifices and support the management, so that the project goes well.

While he congratulated GRIDCo for brazing the odds to become the best transmission distribution utility in West Africa for three years running, Mr Agyarko also advised the management of GRIDCo to make training of its staff a key component of its operations in order to remain relevant and efficient.

Additionally, he commended the company for successfully transmitting 65 MW power to Burkina Faso, for the first time, a dream initiated 27 years ago.

The Board Chairman, Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, praised the management and staff of GRIDCo for living up to their mission of being the backbone to power delivery in Ghana and being a net exporter of power to the sub-region.

He said the board was working with management to resolve challenges including the recovery of all outstanding debts to ensure smooth operation of the company and assured that GRIDCo would continue to provide reliable, sustainable and secure power for all its clients.

The Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Jonathan Amoako-Baah, said the company would collaborate with its partners to build a world class power grid for Ghana and the sub-region, and announced that, the company had increased the number of sub-stations from 43 to 60 and increased the length of transmission lines from 4,000 circuit kilometres to over 5,100.