Agreement to Cede VRA Assets to AMERI, Others Suspended

The Power Ministry has suspended agreement with three external parties over some assets of the Volta River Authority (VRA) Thursday.
The decision was arrived at after a meeting between the Ministry and staff of the nation’s power generator ended in deadlock.
Narrating the event to Joy News, Head of Corporate Communications at VRA, Gertrude Koomson, said the meeting brought a lot of issues to bear.
According to her, in the course of discussions, it came out that some of the agreements between the Ministry and the three entities have been concluded while others still hang in the balance.
This further stoked the agitation of the workers who complained of being left on the back burner.
As a result there was a unanimous agreement that all forms of engagement with the companies namely AMERI, Sunon-Asogli and the Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC) be put on hold until finality is reached.
This has been welcome by the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) who is urging government to consider financing VRA to make use of its assets.
Deputy Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye, says it is easy to give away assets of VRA but not rewarding at the final analysis.
“I think it is proper to heed to what they have called for government guarantee or support to be able to raise the needed financing to buy the turbines and change them completely,” he said, adding, the Authority has spent more on the assets to have them given on a silver platter.
“They have invested money in there, they are paying for the loan they secured and their staffs are working on the plant and now you are requiring them to give the assets to AMERI…we think the simpler approach will be to just help them raise the finances,” he said.
Genesis:
The decision by the Power Ministry to give the T3 plant in the Aboadze thermal enclave, a parcel of land at the Kpone Thermal Power Station and the MRP at the Tema Thermal Power station to the private companies has been opposed by the workers of VRA who cited cases of unfairness.
On Wednesday, they served a notice of protest to management of the Authority if the decision is not reversed.
The Power Ministry has explained its decision but the workers remain adamant and have since decided to continue with their protest pending a meeting with the entire staff later Friday to consider their next action.