President John Dramani Mahama has described the recent fire at the Akosombo power enclave as a strategic opportunity to modernise critical national infrastructure, rather than a mere disaster.
The President made the remarks on Thursday, April 30, during a tour of the Akosombo Dam to assess the aftermath of the blaze, which destroyed a substation operated by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo).
The fire knocked out vital equipment, removing more than 1,000 megawatts of power from the national grid and triggering intermittent blackouts across several regions.
Speaking to engineers and senior officials at the site, President Mahama acknowledged the severity of the setback but insisted it should be turned into long-term gain.
“This presents an opportunity because now that this adversity has happened, it gives us a chance to replace it with a more modern control room that will serve this Akosombo Plant and let it work for more generations yet to come,” he said.
The President praised the technical team for their swift and skilful response in restoring generation capacity, noting significant progress in stabilising the grid.
“You have four of the turbines back on, and he says that you are working another miracle and that I will get good news soon with the remaining two turbines also coming back on,” he added.
President Mahama reiterated his administration’s commitment to strengthening key state energy institutions, describing both GRIDCo and the Volta River Authority (VRA) as critical to Ghana’s power sector.
“VRA will continue to be one of the foremost state-owned enterprises, and every support the government can give you, we will continue to give you,” he said.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister John Jinapor confirmed that four generation units at the dam have been successfully restored, with the remaining units expected to return to operation within the week.
The restoration efforts are aimed not only at recovering lost capacity but also at equipping the Akosombo enclave with resilient, next-generation systems to underpin Ghana’s energy security for decades to come.
