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OIL AND GAS CAPACITY BUILDING ON COURSE, SAYS WORLD BANK

  • SOURCE: | qwesa2big
  • The World Bank has given thumbs up to the Project Coordination Unit of the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project, saying it is performing at a high level. “The Project Coordination Unit (PCU) at the Ministry of Energy (MoEn) is performing at a high level, adding a degree of confidence that implementation progress will pick up substantially in 2012”, it said in its latest Implementation Status Results report of World Bank Assisted Projects.

    The Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project is a World Bank project aimed at improving public management and regulatory capacity, while enhancing transparency and strengthening local technical skills in Ghana’s emerging oil and gas sector. According to the report, institutions within government of Ghana are mobilizing to build capacity adding that work programmes have been agreed upon with almost all beneficiary institutions for 2012. It however said the data repository (allocation of $10 million) and environmental management (allocation of $4 million) components are experiencing delays.

    It said implementation progress over the past six months has been uneven with some components advancing well and others experiencing delays, adding that disbursements have started to pick-up to reach about $3.1 million (less than 10% of the total credit amount), “but they are still well below the projected estimates (less than 10% of the total credit amount)”. The project, whose total amount is $38 million, is expected to end on June 30, 2015, having become effective on May 20, 2011 after it was approved on December 20, 2010.

    Describing the overall implementation progress as moderately satisfactory, the report praised the project coordination unit at the Ministry Of Energy, saying it was performing at a high level and expressed confidence that implementation progress will pick up substantially in 2012 “Institutions within GOG are mobilizing to build capacity, and work programmes have been agreed upon with almost all beneficiary institutions for 2012. This includes the Petroleum Commission which came into existence in November 2011”, it added.

    “However, the data the data repository and environmental management components are experiencing serious delays”, the report noted, adding that to overcome bottlenecks to the implementation, key actions have been agreed upon with the beneficiary agencies, including: (i) information exchanges between the Bank and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the specific scope of the laboratory at the EPA and (ii) the formalization of an agreement between Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and the Petroleum Commission on the details of the transition of the data repository.

    Touching on the Ghana Local Government Capacity Support Project, the report described as satisfactory the overall implementation progress, saying that key procurement staffs are in place, and there has been progress with the procurement process for key long term technical advisers (for each component and within each implementing agency) most positions are the stage of interviews and contracting.

    “Procurement of key consultancies to kick off project components is also progressing with a number at short-listing/RFP stage these activities need to be followed up closely by government and Bank teams to ensure timely procurement and deployment of consultants”, it said, adding that a withdrawal application for disbursements for capacity building, project management and operational expenses ($2.7m) has been submitted and approved.

    The Ghana Local Government Capacity Support Project is a World Bank assisted project aimed at strengthening the intergovernmental fiscal framework, strengthening local public financial management and accountability for improved infrastructure and services in urban assemblies, and improving citizens’ engagement with urban assemblies and their perceptions of urban management. So far, $3.4 million out of the total amount of $ 175 million has been disbursed. The project became effective on November 15, 2011 after it was approved on March 22, 2011 and would close on June 30, 2017.

    The Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project, has Mr. Alexander Kyei of the Ministry of Energy as Project Coordinator, with Mr. Samuel Afram as Project Manager

    Source: The Business Analyst 23rd May 2012

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