The Energy Minister, John Peter Amewu, will hold further engagements with AMERI before a concrete decision on the controversial review is taken.
Mr. Amewu said this would be done to ensure better value for money and better transparency.
Read: VRA out! Government to engage third party to manage Ameri plant despite first failed attempt
“AMERI as a company is an ongoing institution. They are rational like any other person. What will be best for this country is what we will do. The engagement processes will be more in an open and consultative process,†he told Citi News. The new agreement was to extend the current five-year deal with Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group (AMERI) Energy, which is currently operating a 300MW emergency power plant in Ghana to 15 years.
The government was expected to pay a total of $1.375 billion for the AMERI power plant over approximately 15 years instead of the original $510 million.
But red flags were raised by Parliament’s Energy Committee over the cost and value for money, which led to the deal being eventually held back.
Read: Why sack Agyarko if AMERI deal was not passed? – Franklin Cudjoe
The then Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, was subsequently sacked over the matter.
Illegal connections
Mr. Amewu also spoke on the illegal tapping of power from the national grid.
Read: Ghana to process 30 per cent of gold locally – Amewu
“Illegal connection is a problem to the sector in terms of waste. So I think that this is going to be a strong warning out there to the people who are involved in terms of electricity usage. They better get prepared. If you are able to flush out those illegalities, you would see that the energy sector debt will gradually reduce.â€
Source:Â citinewsroom.com
