New company takes over ECG on February 1

The new entity that will assume the assets and operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited is set to take over from the first of February this year.

The move is expected to see the power distribution company receive some funds to expand its operations as well as build a new bulk station in Pokuase in the Greater Accra region.

Meralco Consortium, a Pilipino power company which won the bid to take over the operations of ECG is major shareholder in PDS.

Speaking to Citi Business News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) Martin Eson-Benjamin disclosed that the company will be injecting 580 million dollars into ECG.

Mr. Eson Benjamin was hopeful the funds will turn around the operations of the ECG to help stabilize the country’s power distribution.

“We have gone through many processes and now I can tell you that everything is almost completed for the new company to take over. The takeover will bring efficiency and we will all see the improvement in the new company,” he assured.

He added that the company will also work to remove leakages and financial losses in the system.

Mr. Eson-Benjamin reiterated that no worker of ECG will lose their jobs under the Power Compact Two.

“The President, Nana Akufo-Addo himself has given the assurance and has stated publicly that no worker will lose his or her job. I also want to assure you that no worker will lose their job under the agreement. Workers should go ahead and do their jobs as expected and nobody will lose their jobs,” he stressed.

Mr.Eson-Benjamin maintained that it is important to complete the compact to open more opportunities for Ghana to benefit from future compacts.

“This is free money. It is free money for Ghana to benefit from. We must all as a nation help to get this money to improve our power sector”.

The journey so far

The journey to get a private sector player to manage the affairs of the ECG started after Ghana won the power compact two which is expected to inject some 900 million dollars into the ECG. Ghana signed the Power Compact with the United States of America acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States government agency, on the sidelines of the US Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC on August 5, 2014.

Under the Power Compact, six projects are being implemented to address the root causes of the unavailability and unreliability of power in Ghana.

The project include ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Project, 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, According to Mr. Eson-Benjamin the main aim of the PDS is to invest and block leakages in the system.