INSTEPR questions $36 million electric meters procurement for the ECG
Energy think tank, the Institute for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR), has questioned the procurement of electric meters to the tune of $36 million by the Ministry of Energy for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Describing the procurement as ‘fraud’ in a press release, INSTEPR notes that the acquisition of the electric meters by the Energy Ministry for the ECG was discovered in its investigations into procurement lapses at the ECG following the Auditor-General’s 2020 report.
According to INSTEPR, the Ministry of Power (Ministry of Energy) through the Ministry of Finance in 2016 made a payment of $36 million to L & R Investment and Trading Company Limited and its local partners in Ghana, Messrs L & R Investment and First Grace Limited for the supply of single phase and three phase electric meters to ECG.
The total contract price for the supply of these meters were $39,999,566.44, to be supplied over a period of twenty-six (26) weeks. When the contract was signed, an advanced payment of $12 million was paid to L & R Investments plus a Letter of Credit (LC) of $24 million.
Per the contract signed between the Ministry of Power and L & R Investments, the electric meters were to meet certian specifications and standards before shipment to Ghana.
Read: IMF says Ghana’s energy sector debt to remain above $1 billion till 2024
L & R Investments, failed to manufacture the electric meters per the specifications and standards, the company however shipped the electric meters to Ghana.
The electric meters, INSTEPR notes, are now locked up in the warehouse of the ECG due to the fact that the meters were not produced to specifications.
INSTEPR per the release is seeking to find out the people behind Messrs L & R Investment and Trading Company in Ghana and First Grace Limited.
Read details of press release of INSTEPR below:
Electric Meter Fraud by Fuaad Dodoo on Scribd
