Special topics
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has spent an amount of $8.5 million on a-two-hundred-thousand acre of land located at Takoradi in the Western region.
This was made known in the GNPC’s work plan sent to Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee upon request.
The company also budget $50 million for co-investment with a selected partner to establish a company in a selected area.
The purpose of the request of the money is to establish an oil refinery fertilizer plant, petrochemical industry, petroleum tank farm, etc in the Western region to attract investors to the petroleum hub.
The company is, however, is seeking parliamentary approval to spend US$65.75 million on non-petrochemical capital projects as part of its 2019 programme of activities.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee of parliament, Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi has justified the GNPC’s acquisition of the land for $8.5 million.
In an interview on Accra-based Class FM, he said: “The allocation of 60 million for the development of petroleum hub for the western enclave or Western region is something that our brothers from the minority side are very excited about and our side is also excited about it.
“What you haven’t asked is; ‘what is the acreage of land we are looking for, for this project’? It is 200,000 acres of land.
“Because of the activities of oil companies in the Western region, the value of land has increased so if even an acre of land is $20,000, or $30,000 or even $50,000, you’ll get a rough idea of the [price].”
