Akosombo: President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday commended engineers for their swift and professional response to a fire incident that knocked out more than 1,000 megawatts from the national grid at the GRIDCo substation at Akosombo. The President gave the commendation during a working visit to inspect ongoing restoration works at the facility in the Eastern Region. President Mahama reaffirmed Government's support for both GRIDCo and the Volta River Authority (VRA), describing them as critical institutions in the country's energy sector. The fire incident led to disruptions in electricity supply across parts of the country.
According to Ghana News Agency, President Mahama noted that VRA had consistently demonstrated high standards as a state-owned enterprise, adding that the quality of its human resource base had enabled engineers to respond effectively to the challenge. 'We heard about the sad event, the fire outbreak in your control room, and of course Ghanaians have felt the impact,' he said.
President Mahama expressed gratitude to the engineers for their sacrifice and dedication towards restoring operations. He said the Government remained committed to restoring stable power supply and strengthening the resilience of Ghana's energy infrastructure. Describing the incident as unforeseen, he said it also presented an opportunity to upgrade infrastructure.
'This is an act of God. The control room has been there since 1964, and adversity is an opportunity. It gives us the chance to replace it with a more modern control room that will serve this plant for generations yet unborn,' he said.