The Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North and a member of Parliament’s Energy Committee, Collins Adomako-Mensah, has called for broader consultation before a final decision is taken on private sector participation in the operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to him, the Minority has always supported the involvement of private players in the retail end of ECG’s operations as a way of improving efficiency.
“From our point of view, from the Minority’s point of view, and if you look at our manifesto, we have always advocated that the retail end of the ECG’s operations, we can bring in some private players in order to bring about more efficiency,” he said on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Tuesday, September 8.
Mr Adomako-Mensah explained that ECG’s major challenges have historically included technical and commercial losses, with commercial losses linked largely to difficulties in collecting revenue for electricity supplied.
He said the Minority’s position was that bringing private players into certain aspects of ECG’s operations could help improve revenue collection and overall efficiency.
However, Mr Adomako-Mensah acknowledged that ECG has recently recorded improvements in its operations, raising questions about whether private participation is still necessary in areas where the state-owned company is already becoming more efficient.
“I’ve heard other key ECG officials make the point that once ECG’s operations are improving without any private participation, why not give that particular part, or particular activity that’s leading to ECG’s improved efficiency rather than bringing in a private player?” he asked.
Despite that consideration, he reiterated that the Minority is not opposed to private sector participation.
He, however, called for further consultations and the opportunity for all stakeholders to express their views before a decision is made.
“Unless, as I said, we do more consultation, allow more views to be shared amongst all of us, and then I’m sure at the end of the day we will take a concrete and proper decision on the way forward,” he said.
Mr Adomako-Mensah also disclosed that government had established a committee to examine the modalities for the proposed arrangement and that the committee had submitted its report to the President.
He noted, however, that the report has not been made public and members of Parliament’s Energy Committee have not been given access to it.
“I’m aware that the government set up a committee to look at this modality, and the report was submitted to the President. It has not been made public. Members of the Energy Committee are not privy to this particular report,” he said.
The comments come amid growing debate over the proposed private sector participation in ECG and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) raising concerns about the arrangement.
Mr Adomako-Mensah said the process should allow for wider stakeholder input before a final position is reached.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Source link
