All is set for Power Distribution Company (PDC) to take over the Electricity Company of Ghana(ECG) tomorrow—February 1.
The new entity is set to assume the assets and management of the ECG after it was selected by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) through a bidding process.
For starters, Power Distribution Company is expected to inject 580 million dollars into the operations of ECG over a period of five years.
Part of this money will be used to set up a bulk electricity power station at Pokuase in the Greater Accra region.
This power station, according to MIDA could supply reliable power to almost half of Accra.
PDC is also expected to improve power distribution and also cut down on waste. The new company will also be required to improve revenue generation of the company to make the national power distributor a reliable entity that can use its financial statement to raise bonds.
Speaking to Citi Business News earlier the Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin stated that all is set for the assets of ECG to be transferred to PDS.
“We have gone through many processes and now I can tell you that everything is almost completed for the new company to take over. The takeover will bring efficiency and we will all see the improvement in the new company,” he assured.
He added that the company will also work to remove leakages and financial losses in the system.
Mr. Eson-Benjamin reiterated that no worker of ECG will lose their jobs under the Power Compact Two.
“The President, Nana Akufo-Addo himself has given the assurance and has stated publicly that no worker will lose his or her job. I also want to assure you that no worker will lose their job under the agreement. Workers should go ahead and do their jobs as expected and nobody will lose their jobs,” he stressed.
Mr. Eson-Benjamin maintained that it is important to complete the compact to open more opportunities for Ghana to benefit from future compacts.
“This is free money. It is free money for Ghana to benefit from. We must all as a nation help to get this money to improve our power sector”.
Checks by Citi Business Show that almost all departments have prepared their handing over notes and have furnished the in-coming entity with it.
The journey so far
The journey to get a private sector player to manage the affairs of the ECG started after Ghana won the power compact two which is expected to inject some 900 million dollars into the ECG. Ghana signed the Power Compact with the United States of America acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government agency, on the sidelines of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC on August 5, 2014.
Under the Power Compact, six projects are being implemented to address the root causes of the unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana.
The project include ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, NEDCo Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project, and Access Project.
The rest are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency, and Demand Side Management Project.
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