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Disclose cost of renegotiated Ameri deal - Minority 

Disclose cost of renegotiated Ameri deal - Minority 

The Minority in Parliament has asked government to provide details on the cost of the amended Ameri agreement for parliamentary ratification.

Government on Thursday night laid a fresh agreement before Parliament to amend the controversial 510 million dollar power deal approved by the House in 2015.

Speaking to Citi News, Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, Adam Mutawakilu, challenged government to provide clear details on the cost of the renegotiated deal, saying “We are all aware that the plant that should cost GHC 360 million, Ameri gave it to us at 510 million. However in this agreement, he did not put how much we will be paying with this new agreement and how much it will cost so we want to find out how much we will be paying a year in respect to this agreement.”

“We have our figures, but we would like him to either confirm or otherwise. If our figures confirm, then we can speak authoritatively on it. In the agreement as well, I saw some savings of $405 million, but we beg to differ because we have different figures on that. We would like to verify those figures from him and then come out publicly with better information,” he added.

He further indicated that his side will meet with the sector Minister later on Thursday afternoon to register their concerns over the renegotiated deal.

“We are worried that this document which is very important and of interest to Ghanaians has just been laid last night. Soon we will be rising, either tomorrow or tomorrow next, and this will put constraint on us to scrutinize the document. We will be meeting the Minister this afternoon and we have a lot of issues to discuss because the purpose for which you will ask for the abrogation, we are not sure that it is the cure in the agreement.”

The then opposition NPP was critical of the deal, and the Energy Minister, Boakye Agarko, claimed that it had been overpriced by 150 million dollars.

The NPP MP for Andasi-Asokwa, K.T.Hammond had earlier filed a motion for a rescission of the deal.

The Minority however staged a walkout when the Speaker  forwarded the motion to have the deal rescinded in Parliament.

How calls for renegotiation started

The John Mahama administration in 2015 signed a contract with Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group’s (AMERI Energy) to rent the 300MW of emergency power generator from AMERI at the peak of the country’s power crisis.

The power agreement with UAE-based AMERI Energy deal cost 510m.

But according to the NPP administration, it found out that the government had been shortchanged by AMERI as they presented an overpriced budget, and were overpaid by $150 million.

The new administration thus commenced a renegotiation process to ensure value for money. But the NDC has repeatedly stated that the claims are untrue.

We gave Ghana best deal; but gov’t can scrutinize – AMERI

The Africa & Middle East Resources Investment Group LLC (AMERI) has also stated that, its 2015 agreement with Ghana for the provision of a Power Plant in the heat of the country’s power crisis, offered the “best value for money” despite government findings that the $510 million deal was bloated by $150 million.

“AMERI acknowledges that the Government of Ghana has every right to assess all public contracts for value of money or quality of delivery. The company strongly believes the project delivered on both. An independent report by renowned auditors PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) found that, out of 7 similar projects, the Ameri plant at Takoradi offered the best value for money,” the statement said.

By: Marian Ansah/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

Source: citifmonline.com

Original Story on: Citi Newsroom
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