MERALCO Updates on Ghana Project
On March 1, 2019, the assets and operations of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) were handed over to the Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd (PDS), a consortium between Manila Electric Co. (MERALCO, PSE: MER) through Meridian Power Ventures Ltd, AEnergia SA, an Angolan company, and three Ghanaian firms—TG Energy Solutions Ghana Ltd, Santa Power Ltd and GTS Power Ltd.
The hand-over was pursuant to the award to the PDS Consortium, which will be the electricity service provider in all of ECG’s operational areas in the Southern Distribution Zone of Ghana, under a 20-year Concession Agreement approved by the Government of Ghana. ECG’s assets would be leased to the PDS, the concessionaire, while the ECG would become an Asset Holding Company, and after the end of the Concession, all assets would be transferred back to it.
PDS Consortium intends to invest over $580 million for capital expenditures and is expected to strengthen the governance, management and operations of the ECG and improve the delivery of power to end users as well as support Ghana’s socio-economic growth.