The Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) has petitioned the President to consider abandoning the Accra Desalination Plant at Teshie.
The union raised concerns with the high cost of running the facility and even the purportedly excessive amounts of salt in the water.
In the petition, PUWU urged the government to buy out the plant for GWCL to use as a standby facility.
“This will eliminate the variable cost which is adding to losses of the company any time the desalination plant is operating.”
As an alternative, the union said: “the government could arrange a loan facility on behalf of GWCL for the purchase of the plant for GWCL to repay over a considerable long period.”
The union is also wary about the state’s dealing with AquaVenture Holdings (AVH), an investment company.
It said the government should not support the sale of the plan to AVH, an investment company.
“This is nothing but another trap by private investors to exploit a state company.”
The union further said it was worried that the GWCL “is being forced to secure a loan facility of $10 million to defray the accumulated debt arising from the capacity charge, electricity bills, etc. incurred on the desalination plant.”
“Contracting a loan just to pay the outstanding debts of GWCL to Befesa “is likely to pose a serious threat to industrial harmony and water supply situation in Ghana,” it concluded.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa | citinewsroom.com | Ghana