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Expanding load shedding: Manufacturers dread impact

By MyJoyOnline
Business & Finance Expanding load shedding: Manufacturers dread impact
DEC 1, 2014 LISTEN

Industries in Ghana are dreading the impact of load shedding on their business as the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) extends the power rationing exercise to industries.

Though most industries have psyched their mind for the unfavorable exercise after receiving prior notice of the load management, failure by the power distributor to follow a planned exercise could throw businesses out of gear, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr. Seth Twum-Akwaboah has said.

He told Dzifa Bampoh on Joy FM's Top Story Monday that though the Energy Ministry informed AGI about the impending exercise, they are yet to receive a planned time table to guide members.

The directive by the Energy Ministry for ongoing load management exercises to be extended to the country's industrial zones started Monday, December 1, 2014. It is expected to run until the end of the year.

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission says the exercise will ease the effect of the power rationing for residents.

Hitherto, businesses operating within the country's industrial enclaves have been exempt from the load shedding. The AGI has issued a warning that the action will worsen an already difficult situation for local businesses and affect production.

“This is a difficult situation for members,” Mr. Twum-Akwaboah admitted. The AGI president said when members met over the issue, “they expressed serious concerns”.

He noted that the cedi depreciation earlier this year posed serious challenges to industries and just when the cedi seems to have stabilised and businesses are trying to recover, they are being confronted by the load shedding exercise.

Meanwhile, Joy News' visit to the North Industrial Area in Accra revealed that manufacturers are not happy about the development at all.

They inist that even before their official enrollment into the exercise, they have been experiencing interrupted power supply.

Sonu-Gurbaksh Karamchandani, General Manager of Polytex Ghana, told Joy News' Naa Deede Tettey the power fluctuation has affected his machines which have cost him a fortune to repair. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Isaac Essel | [email protected] | twitter @isaacessel

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