The government has entered into a credit agreement with the International Development Association for an amount of US$38 million to finance the oil and gas capacity building project, which is aimed at enhancing local skills and competencies needed to the oil industry.
In 2009, a needs assessment in the petroleum sector was conducted and the assessment recommended capacity development in various sectors of the oil industry areas such as strengthening local technical skills and improving public management and regulatory capacity to enhance transparency in the sector.
The terms of credit agreement include a 25-year repayment period with 10 years grace period and will aid the development of the technical capacity of the Ministry of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ghana Revenue Authority and the installation of electronic data storage equipment at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.
Parliament is expected to approve the credit facility through a resolution after it has adopted its Finance Committee’s report. The report, which has already been presented to the House said until petroleum was discovered in commercial quantities, Ghana “had had no pressing need to rigorously develop local capacity in oil and gas. As a result, the country lacks the necessary skills and competencies to build and run the industry.”
“The purpose of the credit is to support the development of local institutions and the provision of technical and professional skills to Ghanaians to manage the oil and gas sector,” it added.
By Eunice Menka