Agyarko lays ECG concession contract before parliament

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.

This would also pave the way for the release of some $498 million under the American government’s Power compact.

Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in May selected Meralco Consortium which is led by the Manila Electricity Company (Meralco) to manage ECG after determining it to “have the highest combined technical and financial score.”

The announcement followed the disqualification of BXC Consortium.

Per the compact, the Millennium Challenge Corporation is expected to inject about $418 million into ECG, while Meralco will invest about $500 million.

The laying of the agreement before parliament comes after the Commercial Court in Accra 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, one of the companies that lost the bid to manage state-owned power distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under the concession arrangement.

According to BXC, it was unlawfully disqualified from the bidding process by MiDA, describing the disqualification as “arbitrary and without basis.’’

Speaking to Journalists after laying the agreement, Mr. Agyarko said, cabinet has already given approval to the agreement and “we await the gracious assent of Parliament.”