The Ministry of Transport has denied reports that the new national airline will commence operations by October this year.
According to the Transport Ministry , the national airline cannot commence operations when the technical and financial proposals from the interested airlines have not been received by the transactional advisor, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
Speaking to Citi Business News the Chief Director of the Ministry of Transport Twamsi Ankrah – Selby said the national airline cannot take off in October as is being speculated.
“The issue of October that came in as the date for the airline to begin operations, the Minister says he didn’t say that. What he said was that evaluation was completed and he hoped that ROP would be completed by October this year,” he said.
Mr. Ankrah – Selby further stated that the ministry is expecting to go out to the selected interested parties with request for proposals by the end of October.
“Definitely the airline cannot set off in October even though the EOI has been completed and the consultant is yet to request for the proposal from the interested airlines as I have stated,” he said.
He explained that the request for proposal has been prepared by the consultant and will soon be given to the interested airlines including Ethiopian Airlines who will submit their financial and technical proposals.
The denial comes after media reports suggested that the Minister of Transport, Fifi Kwetey had asserted that the new national airline will commence operations in October this year.
Citi Business News understands that the transactional Advisor PWC was currently putting together guidelines for the Request For Proposals (RFP) after having evaluated some 10 airlines.
With the establishing of the new airlines, the government has indicated that it is not going to commit funds but will only seek a carried interest in the proposed new airline.
In 2004 Ghana International Airlines was established, with 70 percent shares held by the government and 30 percent held by a US consortium GIA-USA. Faced by a myriad of issues, the airline went down in 2010.
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