Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) - June 4, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) is continuing negotiations with Millennium Development
Authority (MiDA) for the operation and management of Electricity Company of
Ghana (ECG).
Meralco president Oscar Reyes said
the case versus MiDA has not affected its bid for ECG.
“Our team has been quite busy in
negotiations to try to put the final stages so that the timetable
of award and transition can happen potentially by the fourth quarter this
year,” Reyes said.
MiDA has been hauled into court by
BXC Ghana Ltd., the other bidder for ECG, which was disqualified from the
bidding process on grounds of conflict of interest.
BXC Ghana is a Chinese power
metering systems and management company registered in Ghana and a subsidiary of
Xiaocheng Electronic Technology Stock Co. Ltd.
MiDA is the agency which oversees,
manages, and implements the programs under the Millennium
Challenge Account set out by the government of Ghana and the Millennium
Challenge Corp.
Meralco said it would pursue
negotiations for the investment in ECG.
“The bid is for equity ownership and
management of the concession company to take over the Electricity Company of
Ghana, which supplies 80 percent of the population of Ghana through three
million accounts,” Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio said
earlier.
The ECG Private Sector Participation
(ECG PSP) is one of five activities under the ECG Financial and Operational
Turnaround Project of the Ghana Power Compact Program.
Under the ECG PSP, MiDA is
auctioning off a 20 to 30 year concession to provide additional investment
urgently required to improve the electric infrastructure, innovation and
technology to enhance operational efficiency and efficient capital expenditure
to improve service delivery.
At the end of the concession, all
assets will be transferred back to ECG.
MiDA is targeting to complete all
processes, including Cabinet review and recommendation of the concession
agreement and parliamentary ratification of the concession agreement, by
September.
This is not Meralco’s first overseas
venture. In November 2013, Meralco’s partner, Lagos-based Integrated Energy
Distribution and Marketing Ltd. (IEDM), took over Ibadan Electricity and the
Philippine distribution utility was tapped as technical partner.
Last year, Meralco was invited by
Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Co. to provide technical partnership and
service. Port Harcourt is a former state-owned distribution utility which
provides power to 14 million customers in four Nigerian states.
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