The President assured the Independent Power Producers, willing to invest in the energy sector of his government’s commitment to create an enabling environment for their business to flow efficiently, which would help mitigate the current energy crisis the country is facing.
The President made these remarks at a town hall meeting hosted for him at his hotel in New York City, to interact with Ghanaians across the United States.
Speaking on the current state of the various sectors of the Ghanaian economy – a presentation replete with economic indices, facts and figures on his fingure tips, President Mahama noted that, the Ghanaian economy is moving at a faster pace, hence the government is targeting 8 percent growth rate per year. He expressed hope and optimism that, “Ghana will progress to a middle income status in the next eight years.”
Touching on the transport sector, he disclosed that, “95 percent of our transports are (dominated) by the road sector, and there is the need for the government to revamp the rail sector, which adds to the GDP of any country.” He noted that the government has taken over the Tema Shipyard from the Malaysian investors, with the intention to revamp and re-invigorate it, so that all the ships in West African will use it to dry-dock in Ghana.
He also expressed government commitment to revamp the Tema Oil Refinery to enable Ghana’s crude oil be refined right within Ghanaian shores which will create more jobs for the unemployed youth.
The President also lamented the rife and rampant spate of market fire incidents, which he directed the ministry of Women, Gender and Children’s Affairs to distribute 2 million Ghana cedis to each of the victims, in order to console them and mitigate the effect of this disaster on them.
Since his arrival in New York for the Annual UN General Assembly Summit last Sunday, the President was inundated with so many activities apart from UN program, such as University campus lectures, Business and Investment meetings, both in and out of his hotel. One of such high ranking personalities who paid visit to the President at his hotel was the US Secretary of States, Mr. John Kerry.
A brief chat with his Executive Secretary, Dr. Raymond Atuguba revealed that, President Mahama’s itinerary was fully booked for such meetings and engagements, about three months in advance, as these investors and academics were anticipating meeting him when he arrives for the UN Summit.
From Husseini Y. BabalWaiz, ANA New York Correspondent