No market for Sunflower farmers?
VRA sings agreement for power purchase
Toyota Ghana introduces environmentally friendly facility
No market for Sunflower farmers?
Bonte (Brong Ahafo) 25 Aug '99
About 15 sunflower farmers from Bonte in the Nkoranza District are finding it difficult to market their produce. Mr Samuel Akuna, the Assemblyman, said at Bonte that those who initiated the sunflower project in the area were no more visiting the farmers, who he said needed advice on storage of the seeds after harvesting.
Mr.Akuna therefore appealed to the Minister of Food and Agriculture to consider the plight of the farmers and help find market for their produce.
It is also reported that sunflower farmers in Techiman are facing the same problems.
GRi../
VRA sings agreement for power purchase
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Aug. '99
A 52 million-dollar power purchase agreement for the second unit of the Takoradi Thermal expansion project was signed in Accra on Wednesday between the Volta River Authority (VRA) and CMS Energy of the United Kingdom.
The agreement between VRA and CMS, who are joint venture partners under the name Takoradi International Company (TICo), brings to 110 million dollars the total cost of the two expansion projects. The agreement for the first unit was signed in February this year.
It comprises a Core Purchase Agreement that spells out the terms of sale of power from TICo to VRA and a shareholders agreement.
Mr Gilbert Ohene Dokyi, VRA Chief Executive and Mr Joseph Tomasik, Vice-President and Managing Director of CMS Energy, signed the agreement in Accra, which provides for a second 110 megawatt unit for the Takoradi thermal plant.
VRA's contribution amounts to 11 million dollars, representing 10 per cent shareholding. This could be increased to 50 per cent under the terms of the shareholding agreement.
Work on the second unit would start in September this year and it is expected to begin commercial operation in September 2000. Construction of the first unit is almost completed and is expected to be operational by March 2000.
Mr Dokyi noted that the expansion is to ensure the availability of additional energy generation to meet the ever-growing demand for power.
Domestic demand has continued to grow at 10 per cent per annum since 1985.
It is also to meet government's objective to make electricity available to boost economic growth as contained in Vision 2020, the government's blueprint for socio-economic development.
Mr Fred Ohene-Kena, Minister of Mines and Energy, said he saw the initiative as laying the foundation for the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project.
He said gas, which is cheaper, would soon replace the expensive fuel used to run the thermal plant.
Mr E. A. K. Kalitsi, Chairman of the VRA Board, noted that the VRA-CMS partnership is a step to do away with the monopolistic nature of power supply in the country and urged private power producers to take advantage of the open access to VRA's transmission lines.
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Toyota Ghana introduces environmentally friendly facility
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Aug. '99
Toyota Ghana Limited (TGL) on Wednesday introduced its newly-installed facilities designed to prevent waste oil and gas from entering drains and the atmosphere.
The facilities include an underground waste oil reservoir, a waste oil/water separator and equipment for recovery, recycling and recharging of air-conditioning gas.
The company has also installed an automated computer system developed exclusively for operation and management of vehicle distribution.
Mr Tetsuya Suzuki, Managing Director of the company, disclosed this at an open day for the media in Accra.
He said the installation of the new facilities forms part of a two-million-dollar facelift project of the company aimed at providing ultimate customer satisfaction and world class quality service by 2000.
He said the first phase, which began about two months ago, includes renovation and refurbishing of the mechanical workshop at a cost of 1.5 billion cedis.
Mr Suzuki noted that the ultimate aim of the first phase is to make the operation of the company environmentally friendly, both internally and externally, by preventing waste oil and gas emissions.
He said the company has installed a three-chamber filter system, which separates more than 99 per cent of waste oil from water from its operation into a 500-gallon underground oil tank, which is then "disposed off appropriately" by Mobil Oil Ghana without damaging the environment.
"The "Robinair" equipment which is used to store, recycle and recharge gases in vehicle air-conditioners during repairs, is a system meant to prevent leakage of refrigerant gases into the atmosphere and therefore forestall the depletion of the ozone layer."
Mr Suzuki said: "Research has shown that gas emissions have also been responsible for skin cancers and such eye diseases as cataract."
He commended the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its efforts at reducing ozone depletion gases from 101 to 50 tonnes and pledged his company's support in ensuring that the figure goes down further.
GRi../