VRA Goes Public

Volta River Authority (VRA) says it intends to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in the not-too-distant future. VRA, worth nearly a billion dollars, recently told journalists it was considering floating between 20 and 30 percent of its shares to raise about $300 million to enable it pursue long-term operations.

Nevertheless, Government, which exclusively owns VRA, must endorse the plan.According to Kweku Awotwi, Chief Executive of VRA, the authority has not had enough resources to undertake medium to long-term investment hence measures to enable it list on the Accra Bourse.

Noting that VRA was willing to behave like a private sector organisation, he said the company was prepared for the strict obligations that apply to applicants on the stock market.

Currently, VRA operates a total installed electricity generation capacity of 1,730MW, which is made up of two hydroelectric plants on the Volta River, with installed capacities of 1,020MW and 160MW at the Akosombo and Kpong Generating Stations, respectively and complemented by a 330MW Combined Cycle Thermal Plant at Aboadze, near Takoradi.

A further 220MW Thermal Plant, Takoradi International Company (TICO) is owned as a joint venture with TAQA from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Construction of a 132 MW combined cycle plant called Takoradi Expansion Project T3 has begun.

The 132 MW power project is a collaboration between the Governments of Ghana and Canada aimed at augmenting the existing power generation capacity to ensure adequate and reliable power supply in the country.
A further 220MW Thermal Plant, Takoradi International Company (TICO) is a joint venture with TAQA from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

There are plans to convert this into a 330MW combined cycle plant and thus bring the installed thermal generation capacity at Takoradi to 660MW. The VRA has developed a number of plants in Tema.

These include a 110MW Tema Thermal 1 Power Plant, an 80MW Mines Reserve Plant, both commissioned in 2008, a 49.5 MW Tema Thermal 2 Power Plant that was expected to be commissioned by the end of 2010 and a 220MW Thermal Power Plant, located at Kpone, near Tema.

Together these will bring the total installed thermal generation capacity to 1,119.5MW.