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General news for Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Source: Starr FM
2021-02-24
Former Energy Minister John Peter Amewu
Former Energy Minister John Peter Amewu says he takes responsibility for the failed PDS concession deal.
According to him, although the decision to rescind the controversial agreement was a cabinet action, he held himself responsible as the sector minister at the time.
“As a sector minister at the time, I am responsible for the asset and reliability of the ministry and therefore, yes, although it was a cabinet decision, yes, I take responsibility,” the Hohoe lawmaker told the Appointments Committee in your investigation. Wednesday.
The government suspended in July the concession for the operation and maintenance of the assets and facilities of the Ghana Electricity Company (ECG) awarded to PDS.
PDS is a consortium between Meralco through Meridian Power Ventures Ltd. (30 percent), Angola-based company AEnergia SA (19 percent) and three Ghanaian companies, namely TG Energy Solution Ghana (18 percent). ); GTS Engineering Ghana Ltd. (10 percent) and TBK Ghana Ltd. (10 percent).
The suspension order was due to alleged material breaches in the provision of demand guarantees by PDS, which were key prerequisites for the rotation of assets and facilities.
But a week after the suspension, ECG and PDS agreed to an interim agreement in which the Meralco-led consortium would continue activities related to the retail sale of electricity to guarantee the continuous supply of energy and service to consumers.
These activities include meter reading, billing, bill distribution, bill reconciliation, revenue collection, and new service connections.
It would also remain responsible for disconnections and reconnections, faulty meter replacements, network failures and repairs, complaints and failure notification to call centers, and any other related services.
The Meralco-led PDS signed the concession agreement with ECG on March 1, a year after the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) chose Meralco as the preferred bidder for private sector participation in ECG and the Parliament of Ghana approved the 20-year concession agreement.
Under the agreement, ECG’s assets would be leased to PDS for 20 years, while ECG would become an asset holding company.
Meralco said that the PDS Consortium has planned to invest more than US $ 580 million in capital expenditures to strengthen the governance, management and operations of the ECG and improve the delivery of energy to end users, as well as support the socio-economic growth of Ghana. .
After the concession ended, all assets would have been transferred back to ECG, he said.
