REVIEW ECG CONCESSION AGREEMENT- JOHN JINAPPR URGES
John Abdulai Jinapor,
former Deputy Minister of Energy has called for an immediate review of the
ECG/PDS Concession Agreement, stating that the selection process was abused by
government and MiDA leading to Ghana being shortchanged.
He said he has followed
with keen interest the implementation of the ECG Financial and
Operational Turnaround Project and come to the conclusion that though the
project itself is worth pursuing, the selection process was not only flawed and
inimical to the interest of Ghana, but has the potential of throwing the whole
electricity value chain out of gear.
Ghana signed the Power
Compact with the United States of America acting through the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) on the side-lines of the US-Africa Leaders Summit
in Washington DC on August 5, 2014.
Under the Power
Compact, six projects are to be implemented to address root causes of the
unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana.
The project includes
ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Northern Electricity Company
(NEDCo) Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening
and Capacity Building Project and Access Project.
The agreement also
includes Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency, and
Demand Side Management Project.
The Yapei Kusawgu MP
however believes government altered the original agreement to include friends,
family and cronies contrary to the original objective of the ECG Private
Sector Participation transaction.
"The private
sector was expected to lead the turnaround of ECG and make it profitable. In
addition, the new concessionaire was expected to improve access to electricity
while cutting down on waste in the power distribution system and block all
leakages that drain the financials of ECG.
The selection process
begun in a transparent and competitive manner under the NDC with the overall
objective of selecting a company with the requisite technological, financial,
and operational know-how to manage the asset base of ECG in an efficient and productive
manner:. Mr Jinapor noted.
Hon Jinapor who is
also a member of Parliament Mines and Energy Committee further referred to the
agreement presented to parliament saying that a critical look at the Ghanaian
partnership in the consortium reveals one of the local partners of MIRALCO; TG
Energy Solutions Ghana, which has 18% (the biggest Ghanaian shareholder)shares
in the Consortium of investors, lacks the requisite credentials in the energy
sector.
Another issue Hon John
Jinapor raised was about Hon Andrew Egyapa Mercer, NPP MP for Sekondi and
Lawyer Sophia Kokor of the Danquah Institute being named as a Directors of TG
Energy Solutions.
He further asserted
that one Mr. Philip Ayesu, owner of X Men Barber Salon in East Legon, a
suburb of Accra is the main shareholder of TG Energy Solution.
"From detailed
checks I have conducted, this company lacks the technical expertise and
financial capacity in the energy sector to manage a critical State owned
company such as the ECG with an asset value of over GHc22 billion and a
workforce of more than 6,000".
Independent checks
conducted has shown that at the time MIRALCO was filing it's tender
documents to MiDA, TG Energy Solutions had no office or physical location.
1st February, 2019
takeover date was postponed by MIDA due to what their statement described as
"lapses that needed to be clarified".
At the time of
announcing the preferred bidder by MiDA, all Tier One and Two companies had
pulled out following the alteration of the bid process.
Of the two consortia
left in the transaction; BXC from China and MIRALCO of Philippines, the former
was disqualified because they had dealing with ECG, making Meralco Consortium,
a Tier three company the only company left in such major project.
He further pointed to
some infractions in the Agreement, notably Article 2.23(g) which states that
*"Without limiting the rights of ECG pursuant to this Section 2.23, ECG
and the Company shall, prior to the Transfer Date, jointly prepare an ECG
monitoring schedule and protocol consistent with this Section, providing
further detail on ECG’s planned monitoring of the Distribution System.* and
added that he is surprised the Akufo Addo led Government failed to ensure that
the Monitoring Schedule and Protocol Agreement which is key to ensure that the
assets of ECG and are monitored during the concession period was
executed.
By this omission,
however, ECG will not be in a position to ensure that its assets are well
maintained by PDS.
He called on well
meaning Ghanaians to support his call for a review of the agreement because if
the agreement is left in its current state will, destabilize the whole energy
sector with very serious consequences including rise in the cost of power and a
crippling of power generation companies.
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