Institutions to benefit from proceeds of the energy bond are upbeat about the allocations to hit their accounts soon.
One of such is the Ghana Gas Company which is owed by the VRA alone, to the tune of over 500 million dollars.
The debt which is believed to have accumulated over a three year period has also made it difficult for the Gas company to expand its operations or undertake major maintenance works.
But the CEO of the Ghana National Gas Company, Dr. Ben Asante tells Citi Business News the funds should turnaround the company’s fortunes going forward.
“That’s actually going to help; even if we get half of what we are owed…we are getting this money from the Ministry but from proceeds of the energy bond. So I think getting something at least is definitely better than nothing. So we are definitely looking forward to getting our fair share of the bond to help our developmental agenda,” he asserted.
The unpaid energy sector debt is estimated at 10 billion cedis [2.5 billion dollars].
The development has also affected the financial sector greatly as banks have been among the worst hit.
The energy bond accrued about 4.7 billion cedis.
This is about 22% less than the targeted 6 billion cedis in the first tranche of the bond.
This notwithstanding, the proceeds are expected to be used for the first batch of disbursements to affected institutions.
According to Dr. Ben Asante, the initial allocation should also help expedite plans to find alternative means in addressing the challenge caused by the unpaid debt owed by the VRA.
“The unpaid debt has made it difficult to go on with some of the expansion projects or maintenance that we need to carry out. It’s not affected us that much but I think that as we go forward we may have to find alternative sources for addressing our maintenance protocol. Because the project is a relatively new facility.”
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana