Govt Accepts New Majority shareholders of Thermal Plant

Partnership should be based on win-win basis - Kufuor
Accra, May 21, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor said on Monday that any partnership deal between Ghana and TAQA, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based multi-national Company, the new majority shareholders of the Aboadze Thermal Plant, should be based on fairness and a "win-win" for both parties.

"Ghana would welcome partnership on fair basis", he said, in a brief opening remarks at his first meeting with a delegation of the company that has taken over the 90 per cent shares in the energy generation plant, which until recently was held by CMS Generation of the United States.


He said the partnership arrangement should bring with it mutual benefit so that they would be held together.


Mr. Peter Barker-Homek, Chief Executive Officer of TAQA, who led the delegation to the Castle, Osu, said the company was in the country to be "part of Ghana's present as well as its future".


He said TAQA, which had a total investment of 14 billion US dollars in nine countries, was hoping to be part of the solution to the energy crisis facing the nation.

The Ghana Government owns 10 per cent shares in the Aboadze Thermal Plant.


President Kufuor had earlier in the day received a Special Envoy sent by his Burkina Faso counterpart, President Blaise Compaore.


The envoy, Mr Joachim Tankoano, was in Accra to extend an invitation from his Head of State to President Kufuor to attend a Forum on Information Technology (IT) to be hosted by Burkina Faso. Microsoft of South Africa, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are the joint organizers. President Kufuor said IT was a critical infrastructure the sub-region needed to open up the economies of its countries and improve the quality of life of their peoples.


He said he would therefore carefully study the letter of invitation to see how Ghana could meaningfully participate in the forum, which aims at bringing together African leaders and experts to share experiences in the IT sector.