Power Distribution
The dam provides electricity to Ghana and its neighboring West African countries, including Togo and Benin. Initially 20% of Akosombo Dam's electric output (serving 70% of national demand) was provided to Ghanaians in the form of electricity, the remaining 80% was generated for the American-owned Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO). The Ghana Government was compelled, by contract, to pay for over 50% of the cost of Akosombo’s construction, but the country was allowed only 20% of the power generated. Some commentators are concerned that this is an example of neo-colonialism. In recent years the production from the VALCO plant has declined with the vast majority of additional capacity in Akosombo used to service growing domestic demand.
Read more about this topic: Akosombo Dam
Famous quotes containing the words power and/or distribution:
“We have imagined ourselves a special creation, set apart from other humans. In the last twentieth century, we see that our poverty is as absolute as that of the poorest nations. We have attempted to deny the human condition in our quest for power after power. It would be well for us to rejoin the human race, to accept our essential poverty as a gift, and to share our material wealth with those in need.”
—Robert Neelly Bellah (20th century)
“Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)