AMERI willing to partner govt over renegotiated deal

John Peter Amwwu, Minisater of Energy

Africa and Middle East Resources Investment (AMERI) Energy Group, has expressed its willingness to partner with the government over the renegotiated deal which was laid in Parliament last week.
“We are always happy to address any misconceptions about our work, and we’ve engaged in a constructive dialogue with the government and all stakeholders,” it said.
The government has said the renegotiated contract will save the nation $51 million however, it withdrew the controversial AMERI Novation Agreement before Parliament and replaced it with the new one it described as enhanced.

AMERI originally entered into the term Build, Operate, Own, Transfer (BOOT) deal, during the time of severe power shortages across the country and the plant was built within four months, which contains the state-of-the-art turbine technology.

Mustafa Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of AMERI Energy, noted that “having found a solution, we’re grateful not only for the government’s directness, but for their renewed faith in us as a company to bring reliable and affordable power to Ghanaians.

“Our Takoradi project has proved a vital artery of power for the country, we’re also proud its power has remained uninterrupted from the first day and trained 80 per cent of local staff in maintenance and operation of the plant.

“We remain committed to providing more jobs and training to our workforce, we are a firm dedicated to providing opportunities on a local level, in operations, maintenance and management.”

“The citizenry have access to energy that is reliable and inexpensive, we look forward to our future operations in Ghana, partnering with the government and the private sector to develop one of Africa’s most dynamic economies,” Mr Ahmed indicated.

The Mahama-led administration in 2015 signed a contract with AMERI to rent the 300MW of emergency power generator at the peak of the country’s power crisis and
the power agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based AMERI Energy cost $510 million.

But the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government found the country had been shortchanged by AMERI as they presented an overpriced budget, and were overpaid by $150 million.

This has led to the replacement of the agreement with a new one laid before the House by the new Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu, after Boakye Agyarko who felt he had been deceived to approve a bad deal after the initial review of the contract was sacked by the President. –citinewroom.com

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