BXC, MIDA Case Dominates Ghana-China Talks As Cabinet Approves Miralco Takeover

The accusations by the BXC Consortium that they have been unfairly treated by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in the ECG private sector participation transaction dominated discussions when Ghana's Foreign Minister, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway accompanied by Deputy Head of the delegation, the CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Mr Yofi Grant and Ghana's Ambassador to China, Mr Edward Boateng, met her Chinese counterpart in Beijing earlier in June to discuss issues of mutual concern to both countries.

A source close to the meeting revealed that, Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China, noted that since the traditional friendship between China and Ghana was jointly established and cultivated by earlier generations of leaders of both countries, there was the need for both sides to put in more effort to sustain it.

He said, China regarded Ghana as an important cooperation partner and was willing to, in accordance with the concept of policy towards Africa with sincerity, to make concerted efforts with the Ghanaian counterpart to promote bilateral relations for constant and forward-looking development.

Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao, China's Ambassador for Affairs of the FOCAC was of the view that a Chinese consortium with a stronger and better financial and technical capacity had been unfairly treated by the MiDA mainly because the Authority's activities were funded by another government.

He explained that giving $490 million to Ghana, over 20 years for a company to manage ECG would not be in the interest of Ghanaians as SPG, the Chinese company in BXC Consortium, was willing to augment that amount with BXC Company to ensure a stable power distribution.

Ambassador Zhou stated that China's Foreign Affair policy will uncompromisingly protect the rights and interests of Chinese companies within foreign countries, calling on the Government of Ghana to handle the issue fairly.

Ms Ayorkor Botchway assured her Chinese counterpart that she and her team would convey their sentiments to the government for the benefit of the mutual interest of the two countries.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has approved the takeover by Miralco in ECG as a private sector participant to ensure a stable power distribution in Ghana.

Read Full Story