The embattled electricity distribution company, PDS Ghana Limited, is reported to be gathering relevant documents and putting together a team of crack lawyers to the London-based International Court of Arbitration for settlement from the Government of Ghana for terminating the concession agreement it signed with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Awake News can report.
The company, according to an insider, has almost completed its documentation and will, in the next few days, serve notice in London to haul the Government of Ghana for the case to be heard.
PDS filed a suit at the commercial division of the Accra High Court to challenge the revocation of its licenses by the Energy Commission.
However, the court, last Friday, dismissed the application by PDS, challenging the cancellation of its operating licenses.
The court presided over by Justice Akua Sarpomaa Amoah, threw out the application after dismissing all the reliefs which the applicant sought and upheld the opposition to the application by the Attorney-General (A-G), Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame.
Justice Amoah, however, did not give full reasons for the court’s decision which, she said would be in her ruling filed at the court’s registry.
Background
In July 2018, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), on behalf of the Government of Ghana, signed a concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited led by Meralco, a Philippino company, to take the operations and management as well as undertake the requisite investments in the electricity distribution business of the ECG.
PDS was issued with a lease assignment agreement that allowed it to manage the assets of ECG, worth more than US$3 billion, and a bulk supply agreement to take over the distribution of electricity in the southern distribution zone of the country.
The Power Distribution Services, which was a consortium of Ghanaian and foreign entities, had a 51 percent Ghanaian stake while the remaining 41 percent was for Meralco and its partners.
This was to make the utility provider more efficient in order for Ghana to access US$498 million from the United States agency, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The conditions precedent of the agreements made it mandatory for PDS to secure payment security to serve as a form of insurance for the assets of ECG which it was managing.
However, the government said PDS presented payment security in the form of demand guarantees from Al Koot Insurance, a Qatar-based insurance firm.
The government, in view of that, started raising red flags in 2019 after accusing PDS of securing a fake demand guarantee.
According to the government, its checks revealed that Al Koot had not issued any demand guarantee for PDS.
Eventually, the Government of Ghana terminated the concession agreement with PDS in October 2019.
By: Umar Sheriff Musah / awakenewsroom.com
