Tussle over Ghana’s oil

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012, President John Mahama then Vice President of the Republic was billed to commission the US$35million Debre Marine Project in Akosombo but was stopped at the eleventh hour by a directive purportedly given by the then Minister of Transport Honorable Collins Dauda.

According to a Report from the Project Managers and available to the SCANDAL the Managing Director of Volta Lake Transport Company (VLTC) had granted permission for the ceremony to take place but the Minister of Transport allegedly overturned the permit saying only he had the authority to grant permission for the use of the port, and so, the ceremony was called off.

Since then, the US$35million Marine Project initiated by the Bulk Oil Storage Transportation (BOST) in 2008 and completed in 2011 is lying in limbo as BOST and the VLTC are in a tussle over who should control the ports or operate the facility.

The project is expected to facilitate the movement of petroleum products from Akosombo to the Buipe Storage Depot. Products received at Debre are pumped through the pipeline to Buipe and subsequently to Bolgatanga through the Buipe-Bolgatanga petroleum pipeline thus facilitating an all year round barge transportation on the Volta Lake. However, the needless misunderstanding between the two state-owned institutions has cast dark clouds over the full utilization of the barges.

The contract for the construction of the $35 million project was awarded to WORCON Engineering Ltd in 2008 with a loan facility taken by BOST from a commercial bank.

The project deliverables comprised four river barges, one tug boat, one floating dock and jetty facilities. SCANDAL has it on authority that the project has been completely stalled, but Communications Manager of BOST, Salifu Acheampong, says only two of the barges are lying idle.

Mr. Acheampong, told this paper last week that out of the four barges which were expected to be commissioned, two are now in use with the other two lying idle. It is the revenue generated from the use of those barges which would be used to service the $35 million loan facility.

He reiterated that, the inability of BOST to utilize all the barges was as a result of the “inter-government agency dispute which must be resolved immediately”. He assured that the Board of Directors of BOST would soon take a decision on how to settle the impasse with VLTC.

The inability by BOST to utilise the facilities lends credence to the perception that political interest by certain individuals to transport products by road could be the main stumbling block in the way of the project.

SCANDAL has it that these individual owners of tankers charge as much as GH¢5,000 for a trip by road to Buipe to discharge petroleum products

The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Ltd (BOST) was incorporated in 1993 as a private Limited Liability Company with the Government of Ghana as the sole shareholder.

BOST has the mandate to develop a network of storage tanks, pipelines and other bulk transportation infrastructure throughout the country and to keep Strategic Reserve Stocks for Ghana.

BOST has been given an additional mandate as the Natural Gas Transmission Utility (NGTU) to develop the Natural Gas infrastructure throughout the country.

VLTC, on the other hand, was incorporated in 1970, to provide North-South water-borne transport for persons and freight on the Volta Lake. The Company operates a fleet of passenger vessels, cargo ships and barges and other vessels.

In our subsequent publications, we shall bring to our distinguished readers the demands of the VLTC, why BOST is dragging their feet to meet their demands and why the loud indifference by the government to salvage the US$ 35m project from becoming a white elephant.