A SHORT TRIP TO ATUABO GAS PLANT
Us: “How long is it from here to Atuabo?”
Them: “15 minutes only”
After almost 8 minutes
Us: “How long it is from here to Atuabo”
Them: “5 minutes”
Us: “Ok”
After a few metres forward
Us: “How long is it from here to Atuabo?”
Them: “30 minutes”
Us: “Eiii, Hahahahahaaa. When are we going to get there? Maybe we should go back”
After exactly 11 minutes’ drive.
“Atuabo Gas Plant! Wow. It is beautiful oo”
“See, that is gas being flared”
Ghanaians are bad at calculating distances and time, very bad. All we sought to do was to see the Atuabo Gas Plant, and we were on the main Axim-Elubo road, at the junction that turns in towards Atuabo. We – my colleagues and I – had gone to work and on our way back we wanted to see the Atuabo Gas Plant. The dialogues above were the times 3 different people we asked told us how long it would take from the Junction, farther in, and even farther in respectively.
The town of Atuabo – pronounced “Aduabo” by typical Nzemas – lies very close to the sea on the Krisan-Eikwe road towards the Nzulezu area. Immediately after the St. Martin De Porres Hospital one sees the sea, dark blue at the time we saw it because it was slightly cloudy. The coconut trees are slim, slimmer than most of the waist-trained waists paraded around these days. And oh, the coconut trees are old, shorn of their former glory of green fronds and coconuts. Some are rotten at the top even though still standing. Directly below, in the shades of the tall, slim, ashen-almost-dark-somewhat-rotten coconut trees is an old cemetery threatened by the sea. The graves are old, dark, dilapidated and looked dead. Somewhat farther away from the graves are patches of sand and some greenery. But this is not what we had come to see.
As we travelled through Eikwe, one of the things we talked about was the “poverty” we could see and how some people would be born in the area, spend their entire lives there, die there and be buried there without knowing any other part of the world. Their world would be confined only to their immediate surroundings. It was a sad thing to say but that seemed the truth. We need to bring the world to people in some remote areas in our country. A statement one of my colleagues made, “Ghana is big oo”. It only underscored the huge amounts of work to be done to bring the world to Ghanaians in remote areas. But this was not why we chose to go and see the Atuabo Gas Plant.
“Atuabo Gas Plant! Wow! It is beautiful oo”. We almost missed the Ghana Gas Facility at Atuabo. We had been chatting so much and were so engrossed in the chatter that we almost drove past what we had been given varied times to get to. We had seen a Bulk Gas Storage and Loading facility belonging to Quantum Gas and we did not think that we would chance upon the Ghana Gas Facility some few metres after the Quantum one. It took the vigilance of one of my colleagues to read out the name of the facility on right side of the road. I sat in the front seat, but I was so engrossed I didn’t see the sign.
The first thing I saw about the Atuabo Gas Plant was the excess gas being flared. Even on land, Ghana still had to flare excess gas (I guessed it was operational procedure not attempted wastage). The facility itself was a beautiful maze of steel pipes – both big and small – and big, green, round tanks. In front of the facility stood a lone Fire Tender and an Ambulance. Signs hung around saying sternly “No Hawking” and “No photography”. When my colleagues saw this, they didn’t take a picture and would not allow me take one too. We had to strictly follow the rules. We could not enter the facility – of course we would not be allowed in – but we stood outside and gawked (Ok we didn’t exactly gawk but we were enthralled) at the sheer magnificence of Ghana’s Chinese-built facility. After eyeballing the facility, we turned our car around and travelled back to the main road, and thence to our hotel at Azulewanu.
PS:
1. Any error in this write-up is mine. I may have forgotten some of the scenes or unintentionally mixed up certain descriptions. I accept my faults, please forgive me.
2. By my calculation, the journey from the junction – whose name I have forgotten – to the Atuabo Gas Plant would take exactly 20 minutes travelling at normal speed in a 4×4 vehicle. The road is being worked on but it is a smooth ride in most places.
3. On the way, one would come across some water bodies which look polluted because of their very black look. Don’t mind that; just go on to see some of the very beautiful scenery at that part of Ghana.
4. Give it a try!
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