Troubled BXC lays off 200 workers by September

At least 200 workers of the BXC Company Limited will be laid off in the coming days, management of the company has hinted.

According to the Human Resource Manager of the BXC Ghana Ltd, Anastasia Ankrah, the decision by management follows the termination of the distribution system loses reduction contract by state-owned power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the concession arrangement.

Reports were rife that the company was laying off about 600 workers working in various capacities with the company.

Speaking on the development in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, the HR Manager said the company had no option than to send the workers home.

“So basically out of the 600 workers, 400 workers have been laid off. The 200 that are left are still being paid but by September they’ll also be laid off. The reason being that the 400, no job presently for them to do. The 200 that are even left we have very few jobs on hand now to do, and they’re being paid till the end of September when we will terminate their employment based on the letter we received from the lawyers of ECG.”

A Commercial Court in Accra recently dismissed an interlocutory injunction seeking to stop the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) from going ahead with the ECG concession process.

The injunction was filed by BXC Company Limited, after losing the bid to manage state-owned power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the concession arrangement.

BXC hitherto the court ruling had contended that it was unlawfully disqualified from the bidding process by MiDA, as it described the disqualification as “arbitrary and without basis.’’

Meanwhile, the Minister for Energy Boakye Agyarko has laid before parliament the concession agreement between the government of Ghana and Meralco Consortium for the privatization of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

An approval by parliament will mean that ECG will be managed by the Philipino power company for the next 20 years starting 2019.