<<Print>>The Minority in Parliament has sounded another alarm over the controversial Karpower deal which was extended from ten to twenty years in March 2018, despite the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) talking down the deal and describing it as bad.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, a former Deputy Power Minister, John Jinapor, described the reviewed Karpower dealas a “scandalous and corruption-ridden” agreement.
This was during a press conference held in opposition to proposed amendments to the AMERI deal.
Mr. Jinapor warned that the renegotiated Karpower deal was even worse than the AMERI deal that civil society had also kicked against.
“This renegotiated agreement is even worse than the AMERI Novation agreement presented to parliament by Mr. Boakye Agyarko… The renegotiated Karpower agreement stinks to the heavens with big fishes in government superintending the looting of the state under this new deal.”
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) board, has not approved this deal, according to Mr. Jinapor.
“What they have done is to do double the tender. Anytime you double the tender of a PPA [Private-Public Partnership Agreement], the rule of thumb is that the capacity charge drops to between 30 and 40 percent.”
“What this government has done is to renegotiate the deal, double the tender and give us a minimal reduction of about 8 percent. So who is seeking to cream off the 32 percent,” he asked.”
Mr. Jinapor concluded by saying the Minority will soon release details on the deal they consider scandalous.
“The renegotiated deal was poorly negotiated and fraught with inflated and padded figures. The Minority will soon engage the Ghanaian public on this stinking deal and we shall make the details available.”
Citi News sources at the Energy Ministry suggested at the time that the deal has been renegotiated to ensure value for money.
The new terms are however unclear for now.
The company announced it will move from using Heavy Fuel Oil [HFO] to natural gas when it moves the vessel from Tema to Takoradi.
The Karpowership from Turkey has the capacity to supply 470 megawatts (MW) of power to Ghana.
‘Karpower barge deal makes no sense’
In December 2015, current Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, was scathing in his assessment of the initial deal.
Dr. Bawumia said it “made no sense” for government to secure the power barge as an emergency solution to the power crisis, explaining that the deal did not give the country value for money.
The 225 megawatts power barge docked at the Tema Port in December 2015, to augment the shortfall in power supply at the time.
“A 225 megawatts plant like the Karpower Plant that we are renting, will cost some 225 million dollars if we wanted to purchase it; and we will own it. Under the Karpower deal, we will pay for the power from the barge for the next ten years whether we use it or not. The African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) estimates that based on the capacity charge alone which is 5.6 percent per kilowatt hour, it will cost Ghana close to one billion dollars over the next ten years for the energy from the barge. This, however, excludes the cost of fuel which will require about 35,000 tones every month. After ten years, the barge will sail away and with this one billion dollar, we could have built a 1,000-megawatt plant for ourselves.
Power from the barge will also cost at least twice what it cost to supply power from Takoradi. This really does not make sense.”