Energy expert endorses private participation in ECG

An energy expert, Ishmael Agyekumhene, has endorsed plans by government to put the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) under private concession.

For him, Ghanaians should rather be concerned with the type of terms and conditions under which government will engage the private company to run ECG.

“Concession is much better because the private company will be expected to invest money and transfer technical knowledge to Ghanaian staff of ECG,” he said on Onua FM.

Ghanaians and workers of ECG who are under the Public Utility Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress have heavily criticized government’s decision to include private companies in distribution of electricity.

But he argued that unlike the ineffective management of the Aqua Vitens Rand Limited contract that managed the Ghana Water Company, ECG’s 30 year concession is much better.

“We can make it effective if the terms of concession are beneficial to the country and are strictly monitored and adhered to by both government and the private company,” Mr Agyekumhene said.

In an effort to champion accountability and transparency, he called on government to “make the terms of contract public so ordinary Ghanaians can measure the effectiveness of the private participation in energy distribution.”

The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson, on Wednesday urged the government to speed up the processes for the private participation in ECG.

Per the second compact of the Millennium Challenge Account signed by the Government in August 2014, ECG is set to be leased to a private company for a period of 30 years, with the aim of improving ECG’s creditworthiness to enable it acquire additional generation capacity from IPPs without or with limited recourse to government guarantees.

Government will maintain ownership of ECG while it is under concession.