Mr Amadou Hott, Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Mr Ricardo Machado, Founder and CEO of Africa Energy Company (AENERGY) signed the deal for their institutions.

Mr Hott said AENERGY won the bid after an international competitive bidding process to check power losses and expand access worth some $800 million with the AfDB raising $500 million and the rest championed by Standard Bank and partners to the tune of $300 million.

He said this footprint is an important milestone for Ghana and would offer a major direct impact on the Ghanaian economy because the utility would bring a multiplier effect on industries and companies, making power available to the government’s ambitious project of One-District-One-Factory as well as affect other sectors of the economy positively.

Mr Hott said three Independent Power Producer ( IPP) agreement worth $1.5 Billion seeking to assist Angola and Cameroon to become energy sufficient was concluded by the AfDB  in a ratio of two-to –one, respectively.

“We are very keen to start these projects and the Bank’s team is ready to drive these to fruition. This is not based on only price but competence and capacity to succeed.” 

He said utility transformation is important for the socio-economic development of the continent and optimistic this novel would be replicated in other parts of Africa to surmount the energy deficits confounding the continent.

Mr Machado commended the professionalism and enthusiasm with which the AfDB team worked assiduously to achieve this feat describing it as a turning-point in peer-to-peer investment fortunes for Africa.

He was happy that no support was sought from any external multinational development agencies to propel this deal and praised the emergence of new entrepreneurs under the auspices of public-private partnership to actualize this deal.

Mr Machado said the company witnessed a turnover of about $500 million last year and envisages to gross $700 million by the end of 2018.

He expects the creation of about 500,000 jobs for the Ghana, Angola and Cameroon as a by-product of these deals.

He said the AENERGY is an offshoot and the financial entity of the parent company Meralco, a technical partner of the Consortium, which had won the ECG bid for the country.

Meralco was selected after the evaluation through an international competitive bidding processes received for the management, operation and investment in the electricity distribution value-chain of the Electricity Company of Ghana.  Meralco Consortium is led by the Manila Electricity Company (Meralco), a 115-year old privately owned entity incorporated in the Philippines.

The Concessionaire is expected to invest more than $500 million for new capital expenditure towards reducing generation losses and at the same time expand access.

The AfDB has been appointed as “Mandated Lead Arranger.”

By Maxwell Awumah, GNA Correspondent, Johannesburg, South Africa