The Tema LNG Terminal Company signed a $350 million funding agreement with the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) for the construction of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tema, Ghana.
At the cost of $350 million for construction, the project will be sub-Saharan Africa’s first regasification terminal and is expected to be completed in 18 months.
Speaking at the signing ceremony held on Sunday in Beijing, President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo said the Tema project speaks to the governments continued efforts of encouraging private sector participation in economic development.
Through its 12-year gas supply agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and Rosneft, the project will supply 30 percent of Ghana’s total electricity generation capacity through generating two million tonnes of liquefied natural gas every year.
According to a report by Business Ghana, Ghana’s president said: “If we are going to succeed in rapidly pushing the industrial development of our country, the supply of gas, which will mean even more affordable rates of power, is now a matter of very great importance to us.”
In addition to improving power supply in the country, the project will have significant economic impacts creating 1,600 jobs in the first 18 months of construction and a further 100 jobs over the 12-year management period.
This project marks another step towards the governments goal of improving power supply and achieving universal power access by 2020.
