“I am going to ask the Minister of Energy to take it up and bring it to Parliament, even if it is late so that at least, we know the true value,” the minister indicated on Eyewitness News, despite the contract already being operational.

[contextly_sidebar id=”etiqWPH5Z3btXQ9D9cd6liCkv5x5m8hd”]His statement comes after the Co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw alleged that the $1 billion cost of the Atuabo Gas plant was overpriced by $40 million.

The Chinese company which undertook the project, SINOPEC, engaged in fraudulent activities in the execution of the project, Dr. Manteaw further alleged.

He told Citi News that Ghana Revenue Authority, which is investigating the matter, has so far recouped about $15 million from the company for bloating the contract sum.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Minister was, however, operating on limited knowledge and said more definite steps will be taken after the contract is brought before Parliament.

“Let’s get there and lawyers can advise us. At least, let us have the information, interrogate it, see the nature of the so-called overpricing and then we can go further. Maybe some minister who was in the previous government will have to account for bracing the law,” he explained.

SINOPEC was to construct the Atuabo Gas plant at Ellembelle in the Western Region to provide gas to meet the energy demands of the nation in the midst of the power crisis.

The $1 billion project, which received stiff opposition from some members of the then-minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament, was later completed in 2014 and commissioned in 2015. It was producing over 140 million cubic feet of gas per day for the Aboadze Thermal Plant at the time.

Contract was not brought before parliament

The contract between SINOPEC and Ghana gas was not brought before Parliament despite appeals to the Mahama government from the Minority at the time

“The loan came to Parliament, but the works contract was never brought before us so there was no way any member of Parliament could have found out if we got value for money. We have always believed we did not get value for money,” Dr. Akoto Osei recounted.

As a national economic transaction, it had to be brought before Parliament so we could “interrogate it to make sure we are getting value for money but it never did,” he added.

Such a move could have been considered an illegality but Dr. Akoto Osei explained that, “at that time, because of the strategic nature of the plant, some of us decided we would not go to court and we kept urging the government to bring it but they never brought it… the project was quite strategic. We needed the Ghana Gas plant so we were not willing to go to court to make it null and void.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Parliament will review Atuabo contract – Akoto Osei appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the Chinese company which undertook the project, SINOPEC, engaged in fraudulent activities in the execution of the project.

Dr. Manteaw told Citi News that Ghana Revenue Authority which is investigating the matter has so far recouped about $15 million from the company for bloating the contract sum.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QVmPWF28RCC9tQhCo83rNEjNWxvJkmyx”]“What for me is so most worrying is the fact that through my investigations I discovered that a particular plant that was imported by SINOPEC for the project was overpriced by as much as $40 million and this did not catch the attention of our public authorities. And even though I raised the concern as far back as 2013, nobody took serious notice of it.”

“Again what I find to be so disturbing about this whole development is that Ghana Gas granted some tax concessions to SINOPEC which is not within its mandate. Because such mandates lies with Parliament which is not unusual but when this happens you need to go through the sector minister to come to Parliament for ratification. We did not seek Parliamentary ratification until 2016. The project was actually completed in 2014 so how do you come to Parliament in 2016 seeking ratification for tax exemptions for a project that is long been completed. That reduces the role of Parliament to rubber stamping,” Mr. Manteaw opined.

He further noted that he was surprised to discover that “Parliament approved the [$152 million] tax waivers without seeing the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract with contains the fiscal exemptions.”

Background

SINOPEC was to construct the Atuabo Gas plant at Ellembelle in the Western Region to provide gas to meet the energy demands of the nation.

The $1 billion project which received stiff opposition from some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament was later completed in 2014 and commissioned in 2015.

It was producing over 140 million cubic feet of gas per day to the Aboadze Thermal Plant at the time.

Logistics from Dubai

According to Mr. Manteaw as part of the processes of procuring logistics, pipes and equipment for the gas project, SINOPEC  set up an offshore company in Dubai by name FAZ which they procured the materials from.

“Because our authorities did not follow through these procurement activities of SINOPEC, the prices that were quoted were not fair market prices and so Ghana was shortchanged. I’m happy that the GRA has acted lately and investigated the matter. I’ve cooperated with them and given them as much as information that I have.”

“Even though the investigations are inconclusive yet, I’m informed that as much as GHc15million has so far been recovered in additional taxes and penalties imposed against SINOPEC,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey & Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Atuabo project was bloated by over $40m – Dr. Manteaw appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.