Finance Ministry endorses GPHA-IBISTEK contract

The Ministry of Finance has officially endorsed an agreement between the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and IBISTEK Ghana Ltd, a wholly owned Ghanaian company, for a concession to develop and operate an on-dock container and multi-purpose terminal at the Takoradi Harbour.

In a letter dated May 11, 2018 and signed by the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the ministry said it endorsed a letter from the Public Procurement Authority, written and signed on February 5, 2018, declaring that the procurement process followed by the GPHA to grant a concession to Messrs IBISTEK fully complied with the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended.

In the letter, the minister also referenced a previous letter, dated December 27, 2017, that requested the suspension of a concession agreement with Messrs IBISTEK to develop and operate an on-dock container and multi-purpose terminal at the Port of Takoradi.

“As you may recall in my letter, I directed your good self to suspend the concession agreement to undertake the above-mentioned project without cost to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and the government and report same to this ministry,” the Finance Minister recounted.

The letter went further to state that “subsequent to the referenced letter, this ministry sought the views of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and the Ministry of Transport (MoT) regarding the propriety of the procurement processes employed by the GPHA in concessioning the integrated terminal to IBISTEK Limited”.

Mr Ofori-Atta additionally informed both the GPHA and IBISTEK that by the letter from the PPA, dated February 5, 2018, the authority declared that the procurement processes fully complied with the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended.

He said the Finance Ministry also took notice of the following recommendation contained in the earlier letter from the PPA, dated April 6, 2018, advising that “we wish to recommend to the minister that the capital cost provided by the concessionaire for the Port Terminal Project be accepted and the suspension on the implementation reconsidered and lifted”.

The minister said his outfit had accepted the recommendation of the PPA and would, however, share a value for money analysis once completed with the parties involved. He further went ahead to advise the GPHA to proceed on the arrangements with its partner IBISTEK.

“You can, therefore, proceed to undertake the necessary actions to give effect to the concession agreement between GPHA and IBISTEK Limited for the development of an on-dock container and multi-purpose terminal,” the Finance Minister said.

African Development Bank

The On-Dock Multipurpose Terminal to be developed by IBISTEK Ghana Limited, with funds from the African Development Bank, will also have a container quay of 16-metre draft capable of accommodating bigger vessels and will further turn the Takoradi Port into a long term competitive alternative.

Pursuant to this, the Finance Ministry wrote another letter, also dated May 11, 2018, to the African Development Bank stating that “the ministry fully and without reservation writes to convey the support of the government of Ghana to the request for funding submitted to the African Development Bank by IBISTEK Limited.

The letter added that “the ministry, on behalf of the government of Ghana, is pleased to inform AfDB that the development of the on-dock container and multi-purpose terminal is an integral part of the implementation of a master plan for the Takoradi Port Expansion Project, and that “the proposed project is expected to make a positive impact nationally and locally for the Sekondi-Takoradi municipality”.

Concession

In August 2017, the GPHA signed a 25-year concession agreement with IBISTEK Ghana Limited for the development of a 61-hectare on-dock container and multi-purpose terminal to handle one million 20-footer equivalent units (TEUs) of containers at the Takoradi Port and three million tonnes of general cargo per annum.

Under the agreement, the facility will serve as a convergence point to receive imports and trans-shipment cargo and was also to serve as a one-stop shop for all container procedures at the Takoradi Port.

IBISTEK, as the concessionaire, is responsible for the full funding of the project – from construction of basic infrastructure to utility systems, procurement and installation of cargo handling cranes and equipment, as well as the operation of the terminal.

IBISTEK and the GPHA are also developing an oil and gas product jetty with a draft of 14 meters capable of handling a vessel of 50,000 dead weight tonnage (dwt).

These processes were completed after a series of communication between the GPHA and the PPA and a subsequent publication of public notices in the September 11, 2017 edition of the Ghanaian Times in compliance with a directive from the PPA to the GPHA on the procurement processes.