President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday joined the chiefs and people of the Western Region to commission the Atuabo gas processing plant in the Ellembelle district.
Speaking at the official ceremony at the plant site, President Mahama stated that the facility has come at a time when Ghana needed it most, to provide gas to meet the energy demands of the nation.
The plant which cost an estimated $1 billion dollars is currently producing over 140 million cubic feet of gas per day to the Aboadze Thermal Plant.
The President Mahama commended the late President John Evans Attah Mills and the National Gas Development Taskforce led by Dr Kwesi Botchwey for remaining committed at seeing the construction of the project despite stiff opposition from persons within the circles of power.
He also commended the Chinese government for providing the initial capital and technical support through the Chinese firm SINOPEC for the gas processing plant and the hard work of indigenous Ghanaian youth who also provided the labour force for the project from 2012 when the project commenced to November 2014 when it was completed.
Local employment President Mahama noted that, since the Ellembelle district is becoming the next growth pole for oil and gas activities in Ghana, it is imperative for the youth in Ghana, specifically in the Nzema area to obtain the right skill through education and to qualify to take up jobs in the sector. He also charged the district assembly to collaborate with the other oil partners who as a result of the coming on stream the Atuabo gas processing plant to develop a district development plan to streamline the activities in the area.
Atuabo Free Port project The president during his commissioning speech expressed disappointment in the legal tussle that had to delay the construction of the Atuabo Free Port.
According to him, “it is unacceptable” for the five NPP MPs to have resorted to legal gymnastics when the Sekondi High Court ruled in favor of the project but they continued to drag the case to different court which only delayed the execution of the project.
He revealed that, Ghana was at the verge of losing the project to neighboring Ivory Coast, but it took the intervention of cabinet to lobby to have the project in Ghana.
He questioned why the MPs did not raise those red flags when the project was brought before parliament but waited after parliamentary approval before resorting to court to stop the project.
Next FPSO to be named after JJ Rawlings Mr. Dramani Mahama also revealed at the commissioning ceremony that the third expected Floating, Production, Storage and offloading facility for the ENI project will be named after former president Jerry John Rawlings.
“This is because cabinet adopted the policy to name all our FPSOs after our former presidents in whose era saw considerable developments in the oil and gas front. In the coming days there will be a delegation who will name the second FPSO after the late John Mills as well.”
The Atuabo Gas processing plant is currently producing four different gas products for domestic and industrial use.
The president assured investors and the entire Ghanaian populace that his government will continue to explore other opportunities at maximizing the benefit of the gas deposited offshore Ghana.
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