MiDA hands over $8.5m Utility Geographic Information System to ECG

The Ghana Power Compact Programme has funded the installation of a Utility Geographic Information System (GIS) for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at a cost of $8.5 million.

The Project, funded by the US Government, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, is part of the Modernisation Utility Operations Activity, one of four project activities making up the ECG’s Financial and Operational Turnaround Project (EFOT).

The Utility GIS project comprised procurement and installation of system software, server hardware, field hardware, and services for data migration and field validation of assets such as primary and secondary substations, power lines, poles, underground cables, transformers, switches and customer service wires.

At the official handover of the facility to management of ECG in Accra, on Wednesday, Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, the Board Chairperson of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), in an address read on her behalf, said the System would provide a digital platform and tools for the ECG to plan, manage and efficiently operate its network to meet global utility management standards.

That, she said, would improve the Company’s customer experience through enhanced power supply reliability, better supply quality and reduced service turnaround time.

It will also provide ECG with the foundation for a more efficient revenue collection, reduce losses and power outages.

Currently, ECG relies on manual and stand-alone computerised systems to locate and identify assets and customers in the field and to design, construct and operate its network for planning and service delivery purposes.

Prof. Ntiamoa-Baidu said Ghanaians had already started enjoying the benefits of the completed Power Compact projects, noting that through the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point substation, more than 350, 000 residents of Pokuase, Nsawam, Achimota, Kwabenya, Haatso, Agbogba, Adenta, Anyaa Sowutuom and surrounding areas had seen significant improvements in the quality of electricity supply.

“Similarly, about 600,000 residents of 53 communities and towns in six ECG operational districts; Legon, Kwabenya, Kaneshie, Dansoman, Achimota and Akuapem-Mampong are also experiencing benefits from the injection of new transformers, the upgrade of existing ones, and the rehabilitation of the electric distribution networks in these areas,” she said.

“These residents are noticing brighter lights and a considerable reduction in the frequency of outages than previously.  The electricity supplied to their homes and offices is stable, and so their electronic appliances are safeguarded.”

In addition, businesses in those areas were witnessing enhanced operations, which would result in higher productivity and increased profits, Prof Ntiamoa-Baidu said.

The Compact Programme envisaged that investments to support ECG’s operations and financial turnaround would contribute to strengthening its activities and consequently have a bearing on the other operators in the power supply value-chain.

It was for that reason that more than 80 percent of the funding for the Compact was allocated to activities that helped to reduce technical and commercial losses, improve revenue collection, reduce outages and transform ECG into a modern utility operator, she said.

Prof. Ntiamoa-Baidu was hopeful that the System would be put to good use for the expected benefits to be realised.

The United States Government, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, supported Ghana with $316 million under the Power Compact to improve the power sector.

The Power Compact Programme will end on June 6, this year, after nine months extension by the US Government as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: GNA

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