It was the start of a busy week, where GRIDCo’s Board, led by Chairman, Amb. Blay Amihere, and CEO Ing. Ebenezer Essienyi, participated in a joint press conference with the UETCL Board, led by Chairman, Mr. Kwame Ejalu Ejuku together with CEO Michael Tamrewa, and Company Secretary Michael Erone on Tuesday 27th September 2022.
The objective of the media briefing, organised by GRIDCo and attended by leading media in Ghana, was to highlight the objectives and goals of the one-week GRIDCo Study Tour being undertaken by the Ugandans, share GRIDCo’s and UETCL’s experiences and areas of professional interest, where GRIDCo and Uganda could collaborate as African Transmission Companies into the future.
The media asked questions relating to access to electricity in Uganda in comparison to Ghana’s, which is 57% and 85 % respectively. Other queries raised were how projects are funded and the how much percentage increase GRIDCo received from the PURC.
The UETCL Delegation indicated to the media, their interest in benchmarking for particular areas, such as operations, project implementation and capacity building to identify internal opportunities to improve their business. During the two days of technical sessions, the Uganda Board, received an overview of GRIDCo’s operations, project implementation, maintaining strong relations with sector regulators and how GRIDCo mitigates vandalism, conducts capacity building of staff, among others were of great interest to the team. Mr. Ejuku said,
UETCL is aware of GRIDCo’s maturity and successes with regards to the extent of coverage … GRIDCo being one of the best-run utilities in the region offers lessons that UETCL can learn from.
Ing, Ebenezer Essienyi, who welcomed the Uganda Delegation, indicated that “GRIDCo has over 14 years, achieved a lot, and continue to work towards delivering a reliable national GRID for development and so, there is a lot the delegation will see and can learn from” during their study tour.
Amb. Kabral Blay-Amihere, GRIDCo’s Board Chairman in his opening statement expressed optimism that, the visit will facilitate discussions on challenges facing the two entities, exchange of ideas and experiences with a mutual collaboration, whilst remaining focused on fulfilling their common mandates to deliver sustainable and reliable power.
Let me add that, we are excited about the prospects of this visit, which provides an opportunity for our two companies to put into practice, the long-desired south-south cooperation and the benefits of African Unity, which the two first Prime Ministers of Ghana and Uganda, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and Milton Obote advocated in their time,
he added, during the media briefing.
In a related development, colleagues at the Accra Area, led by Area Manager, Ing. Benjamin Ahunu presented a crystal plaque of the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point to the Board of Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (UETCL) after a visit to 3 of the substations in the Area.
