Martin Esson-Benjamin
THE PRIVATE takeover of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) will take place on February 1, 2019.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Martin Eson-Benjamin, made this known yesterday in an interaction with the media in Accra.
He said: “By 1st February this year, the transfer from ECG to Power Distribution Services must take place. The processes have been engaged. We have gone through Parliament; we have gone through Cabinet and all the three agreements that all the parties have signed.”
According to him, the necessary documents have been signed for Power Distribution Services Limited (PDS) to smoothly take over the management, operation and investment in the Electricity Distribution Business of ECG.
PDS, incorporated in Ghana by a consortium led by Philippines–based Meralco, is expected to invest a minimum of $500 million into the operations of ECG in the first-five years of the takeover.
MERALCO is the largest private sector electricity distribution company in the Philippines covering 36 cities and 75 municipalities, including Metro Manila.
The company, which is said to be about 115 years old, is also believed to be serving 6.3 million customers in a franchise area covering 9,685 km2 that includes the core of the Asian nation’s industrial, commercial and population centres.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that PDS, per the agreement under the Ghana Power Compact, is required to make infrastructural upgrades to ECG’s existing networks with the aim of improving network service quality, among others.
Improvements in revenue collection are also expected to take place following the takeover in February, and that is expected to culminate in a more efficient power distribution over a 20-year period before the Concession Term comes to an end.
Commitment
He indicated that in year three of the Millennium Challenge Compact, a total of $212 million has been committed.
Programmes
He stated that four primary substations are going to be built as soon as the takeover is effected.
The primary substations are to be sited at Kotobabi, Korle-Gonor, Achimota and Kanda – all suburbs of Accra.
ECG wires criss-crossing the nation, which causes a lot of losses, will be refurbished as part of the modernization efforts of the company.
“There are a lot of things we need to do to modernize ECG; for example, we have a data centre. Data centres are as important as having a substation,” he indicated.
He added that there would also be a metre-monitoring system whose contract is due to be signed in the coming week, and that is part of the efforts to effectively turn around the operations of ECG.
According to him, PDS shall also work with the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NedCO).
No Job Loss
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, the CEO indicated that ECG workers would not lose their jobs in the takeover.
According to him, an agreement has been signed for PDS to retain all ECG workers and that anything contrary to that will be a breach of the contract.
BY Melvin Tarlue