Dr George Sipa-Yankey
Sinopec has warned that it will boycott the Ghana Gas project if funds which are supposed to be released for the project delay any further.
The project has suffered delays in recent times owing to the inability of the China Development Bank (CDB) to release funds.
As of March this year, Government had received a paltry $200 million of disbursements from the $3 billion CDB loan facility.
This is the second time SINOPEC has threatened a pull out over its project construction disbursement.
CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE gathered that the Ghana National Gas Company appealed to the lead contractors to exercise patience.
In October last year, the GNA reported Dr George Sipa-Yankey, CEO of GNGC as saying at Atuabo in the Ellembelle District that CDB had made an advance payment of $225 million to Sinopec Petroleum International Corporation.
He said the amount was part of CDB’s 85 per cent commitment towards to the gas project while Ghana made available $34 million dollars representing part of its 15 per cent commitment.
Dr Sipa-Yankey made this known when the Standing Committee of the Western Regional House of chiefs paid a visit to the project site to assess the progress of work.
He said GNGC had spent $300 million dollars on the project, which involved the purchasing of more than 10,000 pipelines, the construction of warehouses, office and accommodation complex, water treatment plant, filling of the platform of the project site with laterite and gravels as well as laying of offshore and onshore pipelines and other contingency expenses.
The total cost of the project was estimated at $750 million and government was supposed to pay an additional $192 million to Sinopec to complete the first phase of the project on schedule.
A business desk report