2020 budget: Gov’t to use tender process in selecting PDS replacement – Ofori Atta

The Government of Ghana has announced that it will use tender process to select a replacement for the Power Distribution Services (PDS).

This comes after government was met with stiff opposition in its quest to use restrictive tendering process in selecting a replacement for the Power Distribution Services (PDS) after its contract was terminated.

The minority in parliament kicked against the intention describing it as a wrong move.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta made this revelation while presenting the Financial policy of the government for year 2020 in Parliament on Wednesday.

According to him, the Akufo-Addo led administration remains committed to private sector participation in Ghana’s energy sector.

“Government intends to initiate an accelerated tender process to select a new private partner for ECG in the coming months. It is indeed government’s intention to make relevant adjustment to enhance the existing bid documents and tailor the process to optimize the selection from companies having a track record of managing and operating a comparable utility, so as to achieve a fair, transparent and expeditious closure of the transaction” he said.

He said, Government of Ghana has learnt from its past mistake.

“Heightened scrutiny will be brought to bear in the design and implementation of the financial and technical evaluation criteria to ensure that interested bidders not only have credibility and extensive experience in operating and managing a comparable electricity utility, but also possess the financial wherewithal to make the requisite investments in ECG to achieve significant reductions in technical and commercial losses” he added.