The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has postponed the takeover of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by Power Distribution Services (PDS).
The takeover was scheduled to have occurred on February 1.
A statement from the authority copied to ghanatalksbusiness.com stated that the decision was taken at a Special Meeting on Thursday 31st January 2019.
It explained that the Board of Directors of the Millennium Development Authority, (MiDA) acknowledged “the significant progress made by all the Stakeholders involved in the ECG PSP Transaction towards meeting various Conditions Precedent to the transfer of the Assets and Operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd (ECG) to Messrs Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Ltd”.
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“MiDA is confident that the transfer will occur in the next few weeks. The Board approved an extension of time to allow the Parties and Stakeholders, namely Government of Ghana (GoG), ECG and PDS, to conclude their Consultations and finalize work on some critical aspects of the Transaction, in order to facilitate a smooth transfer”.
“MiDA wishes to assure Ghanaians that it will continue to adhere to, and uphold high standards of transparency throughout the process. MiDA will announce a new Transfer Date in early February,” it said.
This latest move comes after the CEO of MiDA, Martin Eson-Benjamin announced that PDS will take over the operations, assets and management of ECG on February 1.
“We have gone through many processes and now I can tell you that everything is almost completed for the new company to take over on February 1. The takeover will bring efficiency and we will all see the improvement in the new company,” Mr. Eson-Benjamin said earlier.
Meralco Consortium which won the bid to take over the operations of ECG, has majority share in Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited and was expected to take over from February 1, 2019.
Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) awarded the operations, investment and management of ECG to Meralco Consortium in April last year following the completion of international competitive procurement process and evaluation of the proposals received for the ECG Concession.
The Meralco Consortium is led by the Manila Electricity Company of Philippines, which covers a third of the Philippines and serves a customer population in excess of six million.
Under the Power Compact II, six projects would be implemented to address the root causes of unavailability of power in some parts of the country.
The project comprised ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, Regulatory Strengthening and Capacity Building Project and Access Project.
The rest are Power Generation Sector Improvement Project and Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management Project, Social and Gender Integration, Environmental and Social Performance and Monitoring and Evaluation and Economics (M&EE).
The Government of Ghana signed the Power Compact II with the Millennium Challenge Account (MCC), an independent United States government agency on August 5, 2014.
Ghana would receive $498 million grant under the Compact to improve the performance of the country’s power sector, unlock the country’s economic potential, create jobs and reduce poverty.
