Energy Minister inaugurates ECG board
The reconstituted board of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has been inaugurated and the members tasked to lead a process that will address the key challenges of the company to ensure sustainable and reliable power supply.
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The Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, who inaugurated the board in Accra yesterday, asked its members to offer strategic direction to the management of ECG to resolve all outstanding challenges, especially guiding the company through the private sector participation transaction process under the Ghana Power Compact.
The eight-member board is chaired by Mr Keli Gadzekpo of Enterprise Limited, with other members drawn from the ECG, Fidelity Bank, Parliament of Ghana, Bulk Oil Storage Transport Company Limited (BOST) and Royal Group Limited.
Mr Agyarko urged the members of the board to play strategic roles to ensure energy sufficiency.
"Your appointment to this position has come at a very crucial time in the development of Ghana's electricity sub-sector,” he emphasised and urged the board members to provide the right leadership and incentives that would improve the performance of the company.
Concession agreement
Currently, there are moves to strengthen the governance and management of ECG under the Millennium Challenge compact.
Ghana obtained a grant of $498.2 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a US foreign aid agency, for disbursement over a five-year period on investments in the power sector.
A major aspect of the compact is the ECG Financial and Organisational Turnaround (EFOT) project that seeks to strengthen the governance and management of ECG by bringing in the ECG PSP under a 20-year concession agreement.
Diligence
Mr Agyarko said: "The ECG ought to be adequately fixed and sufficiently prepared by the time the concession kicks in so that the country will derive maximum benefit from this transaction."
He also urged the board to take keen interest in the management of the asset of ECG during the concession period.
"Under the concession agreement, the assets of ECG will be leased to a private investor to manage, operate and invest for the 20-year period. ECG will still remain the asset owner on behalf of the government.
It is important for ECG to provide update and hand over a credible list of the assets to the concessionaire," he directed.
He further charged the board to support the management of ECG to address issues relating to financial leakages.
New paradigm
The Chairman of the board gave an assurance that the members would be diligent as they worked to revamp ECG.
He observed that the board would ensure that due processes were followed to address challenges that would arise in the new paradigm, especially on issues concerning the welfare of the 6,500 staff of ECG.