Accra, March 30, GNA- Ghana is on course to achieving universal access to electricity by 2025, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured.
Delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA) at Parliament on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, the President said 279 communities have been connected to the national electricity grid under the National Electrification Scheme.
The development, he added, increased the national electricity access rate from 85.17 per cent in 2020 to 87.03 per cent as of January 2022.
“Four hundred and eighty-seven (487) more communities are at various stages of connection and completion.
“We are on course to achieve our ambition of universal access to electricity by the end of my term as the President of this country,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The Ministry of Energy announced in June 2019 that it has pushed back its target date for achieving universal electricity coverage from 2020 to 2025.
The Ministry explained that the extension was to allow for the implementation of new measures to enhance energy efficiency and improve electricity supply to rural parts of the country.
In 1989, Ghana rolled out a 30-year National Electrification Scheme to achieve universal access to reliable electricity supply between 1990 -2020.
As of that time, the country had attained a National Electricity Access of about 25 per cent with only 5 per cent rural penetration.
Consequently, Parliament passed the Renewable Energy Act, providing the legal and regulatory framework necessary for enhancing and expanding the country’s renewable energy sector.
President Akufo-Addo said in spite of the global challenges confronting the energy sector and the “huge” legacy debts inherited by the Government, it had managed to ensure a reliable power supply throughout the period.
He said the Government “had almost” completed the process of restructuring the energy sector legacy debts to reduce their crippling effect on the country’s public expenditure.
President Akufo-Addo said with the introduction of more Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) in areas such as Kasoa and Pokuase, power transmission has improved tremendously in the South-Western and North-Western parts of the Greater Accra region.
“Power lines are getting upgraded to reduce commercial and technical losses and increase transmission capacity,” he said.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Target 7.1) stipulate that by 2030, countries must ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services.
According to the United Nations, about 1.06 billion people still lived without electricity, with more than half the people without electricity living in sub-Saharan Africa.
GNA