Member of Parliament for BONGO Constituency and member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Hon. Edward Bawa, has indicated that relocating the AMERI Plants to Kumasi makes technical sense.
He indicated that the relocation of the plants reduces transmission losses as the power is closer to the consumers and improves the quality voltage thereby resolving power fluctuations issues in Kumasi which saves cost of production and distribution.
“We were thinking Bui could have helped it [power fluctuation in Kumasi] but it was not helping so the relocation of these plants will support with the quality so I don’t have any problem with that”.
Hon. Edward Bawa
However, the Member of Parliament noted that his only issue with relocation is the government renaming the plants whose acquisition it had vehemently criticized when it was in opposition.
He pointed out that the current government has not made any significant development efforts in the Ashanti region during its seven-year tenure.
He indicated that as a result, the government is using the AMERI plant to make the people of the region believe that it has undertaken development projects in the area. “We are trying to expose the hypocrisy of it” he added.
He noted that the project cost more than it usually should while he revealed that the government had sole-sourced the project to a company called Mytilineous. He stated that Mytilineous was the same company involved in the AMERI renegotiation deal that cost the country financial loss.
He stated that the relocation project of the AMERI plants needs to be investigated to find out how the cost of the project increased from the initial US$ 23 million to US$ 34 million when only six out of the ten plants were moved.
The Member of Parliament stated that despite the previous government’s claims, the AMERI deal was actually beneficial. According to him, the renegotiation of the deal by the current government was only done to appease political rhetoric.
He further alleged that the renegotiated deal had cost the state more money as it extended the recovery tenure from five to six years, thereby increasing the cost from US$ 510 million to US$ 800 million.
Addison Committee On AMERI Ineffective
Meanwhile, Kwadwo Poku, an energy expert, noted that if the government wanted the best deal out of AMERI, it should have set up a commission of inquiry to probe into the deal.
He stated that the 17-member committee which was set up in February 2017 and chaired by Philip Addison was ineffective.
“If the government wanted to tell Ghanaians the truth it should have done a commission of inquiry. A lot would have come out. I Kwadwo Poku would have gone in front of that committee and given a statement because there are certain things I know”.
Kwadwo Poku
Moreover, he indicated that the Addison committee was flawed because it had on board the same people who were involved in the AMERI deal under the NDC administration.
Remarking on the huge cost of relocating the AMERI plants to Kumasi, Mr. Kwadwo Poku noted that the opposition should not wait until it is in government to investigate the issue.
He indicated that the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament should summon the Votal River Authority (VRA) to interrogate them concerning the cost. He noted that every Ghanaian is interested to know what constitutes the total cost of relocation.
He noted that contrary to Hon. Edward Bawa’s statement, VRA, not Mytilineous, is responsible for the relocation of the AMERI plant and must be held accountable.
More so, he clarified that the cost does not only entail the transportation of the plants but also the engineering work that went into the building of the structure to accommodate the plants.
As such, Mr. Poku indicated that if the VRA fails to comply with a parliamentary summons, it can be subjected to the Right To Information law, which will require it to disclose the cost breakdown of the project.
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