{"id":367084,"date":"2017-10-31T17:51:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T17:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=367084"},"modified":"2017-10-31T17:51:13","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T17:51:13","slug":"boakye-agyarko-backs-review-of-ameri-power-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/boakye-agyarko-backs-review-of-ameri-power-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Boakye Agyarko backs review of Ameri power deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, wants Parliament to review the terms of the controversial AMERI power deal.<\/p>\n
Testifying before the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Boakye Agyarko said\u00a0immediately after the ratification of the deal by Parliament in August 2015, some already agreed terms were changed which should have gone back to Parliament.<\/p>\n
He thus supports any move by Parliament to review the decision it took two years ago.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”RTKO37IbzaqEOx0V8yCOe3CRyL9WOwiq”]Making his case before Parliament, Mr. Agyarko said: \u201cthe key highlights if I may determine or if it is within my province to determine, will be the choices that we made. I think whether we buy outright, whether we lease or whether we go into a build operate and transfer (BOT), of interest also is the question of pricing, and the quality of the financial and economic analysis that is weighed in this matter of such gravity. The nation\u2019s money of over 500 million dollars is being put in an asset. One would have wished that it will attract the highest quality of investigation in terms of its financial and economic analysis. The synopsis also tracks a number of flip-flops.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind, if Parliament approves or ratifies a document, and there are major changes to the document, It stands to reason that it goes back to Parliament for a review, otherwise Parliament will approve a document only to find out that changes, amendments have been made without their consent . That is something that must lend itself to investigation\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n
AMERI in its agreement with Government dated February 10th, 2015, reportedly charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company, PPR, which financed and executed the project.<\/p>\n
The Turkish firm pegged the total cost of the project at a maximum of $360 million.<\/p>\n
However, in the Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement signed between the government and AMERI, the deal was pegged at a minimum of 510 million dollars leaving Ameri with a commission of $150 million.<\/p>\n
The company was to provide Ghana with 300MW of energy to help improve the country\u2019s energy situation.<\/p>\n
Withdraw AMERI deal \u2013 K.T Hammond<\/strong><\/p>\n Although the Energy Minister backs calls for the deal to be reviewed, \u00a0the Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T Hammond, who was the ranking member of the Energy Committee of Parliament when the deal was signed, filed an urgent motion<\/strong> <\/span>i<\/a>n Parliament to have the deal rescinded.<\/p>\n According to him, this was because of fresh information he had received concerning the agreement which showed that the deal was fraudulent.\u00a0K.T Hammond revealed on\u00a0Eyewitness News<\/strong>\u00a0in August that, Ghana\u00a0stands to lose that\u00a0$150 million<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0to AMERI in the deal.<\/p>\n