Cabinet has approved and submitted to parliament for consideration an exploration agreement for Swiss Africa to begin exploration in the Keta Basin for oil and gas, President John Mahama has said.
According to Mr Mahama, the advantage of oil and gas exploration is that it requires service and, so, if oil and gas [exploration] is taking place within the territorial area of the Keta basin and the southern Volta, then it means that the facilities that service that exploration would be established in the region and can create jobs for the young people in the area.
The president said this to the chiefs and people of Anlo Dukor in the Volta region at a durbar in his honour at the Keta Senior High School park Saturday April 2.
Mr Mahama also revealed the establishment of the Southern Volta Basin Development Authority.
He noted that his party, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) has added the establishment of the authority to its manifesto promise for the November elections.
“The National Development Planning Commission has been working on the Southern Volta Basin Development Authority and government has decided to set it up by first setting up an implementation committee that will be responsible for demarcating the geographical area that shall fall within this authority and shall be responsible for preparing the legislation that will go to parliament to give legal backing to this authority. And as a result we have included it in my manifesto for the election,” he said.
Mr Mahama advised the people of the region to disregard propaganda against him by his political opponents and come out in their numbers to vote for the party because every progress in the region has been due to the efforts of the NDC government.
“We are in an election year and often there is political propaganda. Of course our opponents note that the Volta region is the World Bank of the NDC, and I said it’s not only the World Bank but also the IMF of the NDC and, so, whatever our opponents can do to discourage you to make sure you do not come out in your numbers and vote, they will do and that is why you have activist who are not NDC members who come and parade and pretend to be NDC youth and agitate our young people and say that NDC has not done anything for you. That is absolutely untrue,” he said.
“Every progress that has been made in the region in terms of electrification, water, just name any infrastructure, has been done under an NDC government. From Jerry Rawlings’ time to Professor Mills’ time to my time. And for those who do that propaganda, in the eight years when they had the opportunity what did they do?” he asked.