‘Dumsor’ looms over lack of govt’s preparedness to take-over AMERI deal – IES fellow

Ghana is likely to plunge into another power crisis over the lack of preparedness by government to take over the AMERI Power deal in a timely manner, a fellow at the Institute of Energy Security (IES) has warned.

The power deal which was signed under the erstwhile John Mahama administration in 2015 at a cost of US$510 million was expected to provide the country with some 230 megawatts of power over a five-year period.

However, the Government of Ghana is expected to resume ownership of the power plant per the terms of the agreement from February 1, 2021.

But in an interaction with Citi Business News, Adam Mutawakilu has admonished government to hasten its negotiations in order to avert any delay which could cause a looming power crisis.

“Per the agreement, for the first five years, the tariff is 14.5 cents per kilowatt-hour and immediately after the fifth year, the tariff is supposed reduce to 10.41 cents per kilowatt-hour. What is government’s stance now? Are we still going to continue to pay 14.5 cents per kilowatt-hour or we’ll now pay 10.41 cents per kilowatt-hour? If it reduces to 10.41 cents per kilowatt-hour, it implies that we expect tariffs to reduce for Ghanaians to start benefitting from that agreement,”

“Government must come out clear. And if the government insists, they would not want to take over the plant, I think we’ll have a shutdown completely and that means we’ll be back to ‘dumsor’. So, government’s unwillingness to do all the necessary protocols to take over the plant is quite unfortunate and must be condemned. Government must act fast to take over this plant,” Mutawakilu stressed.

In September 2020, the Dubai-based firm; AMERI notified government of its plans to handover the power plant on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis per the terms of the contract.

Also, AMERI wants the government to make a debt payment for January 2020 before it assumes ownership of the deal.