LAGOS, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCO) says it will start supplying gas from Nigeria to Ghana by the first quarter of 2010.

    Jack Derickson, managing director of WAPCO, announced this on Tuesday in Lagos at the WAPCO 2009 stakeholders' and project forum.

    Derickson said the supply would have since begun but for the inflation which hit the cost of the materials for the project and the unstable exchange rates.

    Derickson put the initial supply at 560 million U. S. dollars before rising to one billion dollars against the backdrop of inflation and the unstable exchange rate.

    "This affected the early completion and expansion of the project but presently the offshore pipeline laying from Nigeria to Ghana has been completed," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted him as saying.

    "I am highly delighted to meet all stakeholders in this business in order to address and fashion out ways to move the project forward," said Derickson.

    He held that the forum was important because it offered them opportunities to give an update on their activities and listen to discussions and clarify pertinent issues.

    The managing director said construction work on the company's Compressor Station in Nigeria and the Regulating and Metering stations in Tema, Lome, and Cotonou would be inaugurated by the end of the year.

    "Once this phase of the construction is completed and commissioned, WAPCO will have the capacity to deliver to the VRA, enough gas to power four 110 megawatt turbines as well as supply our customers in Benin and Togo," he said.

    "We have come this far because of the tremendous support we have received from the four governments," he added.

    He said the company had committed about 2 million dollars to the development of health and education, among others, in the host communities.