We begged Engineers & Planners to work on AMERI project – Minority

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has claimed that the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration had to beg Engineers and Planners (E&P) Limited to execute civil works under the African & Middle East Resource Investment (AMERI) energy project in Ghana.

A committee chaired by lawyer Philip Addison to probe the AMERI energy deal that provided emergency turbine during the power crisis, is said to have indicted E&P for breach of contract in the controversial power agreement that is reportedly causing financial loss to the state.

Engineers and Planners Limited, is a construction firm owned by Ibrahim Mahama, a biological brother of former President John Dramani Mahama.

Responding to the Addison Committee report at a news conference at the Parliament House on Monday, former Minister for Power Dr. Kwabena Donkor who spearheaded the AMERI deal virtually absolved E&P Limited from any wrong doing.

“Whereas E&P can speak for itself, it is important to put the records right. The then Sector Minister had to plead with E&P to execute the civil works, which was an obligation of the State under the contract,” he stated.

According to him, the Volta River Authority (VRA) had through their normal procurement processes, contacted some contracting firms on their list of approved contractors and none was prepared to execute the works without the payment of mobilization from which the Ministry of Finance was not in “good position to pay.”

“With the turbines coming in our attention was drawn to this challenge. We therefore approached E&P who had not only the equipment and competence but also the critical boulders needed to carry out the works on day and night basis,” Dr. Donkor stated.

He said VRA awarded the contract to E&P by VRA after the Power Ministry’s intervention with the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).

Dr. Donkor who is also the MP for Pru East indicated that certificates were raised at different stages of work done and honoured.

“On completion of major of civil works that had direct bearing on the mounting of the turbines, E&P were asked to demobilize to enable turbines to be mounted, and for production to begin. The request was for a month but actually took three months.

“Engineers and Planners rightly asked for a re-mobilization payment to enable them re-enter the site since the initial demobilization was not contained in their contract,” he explained.