Ghana Water Company Limited

concluded

The Government of Ghana (GoG) awarded a five-year management contract to Vitens Rand Water Services BV to manage and operate the state owned national water utility, Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in November 2005. The management contract was aimed to restore GWCL to sound financial footing. At the time that the management contract was signed, GWCL had 320,000 connections and only 51% of Ghana’s population had access to improved water supply. The project company was expected to take over the operations of GWCL in March 2006. Vitens Rand Water Services BV won the management contract through an international competitive tender by bidding the lowest fee of US$13,227,600 for the entire term of the contract. French firms Veolia and Saur also participated in the tender. Vitens Rand Water Services BV (Vitens Rand) was a joint venture between Dutch company Vitens Int. (51%) and South African Rand Water (49%). Vitens Rand Water Services BV created Aqua VitRa Limited, a limited liability company in Ghana, to implement the management contract. Under the contract, Aqua VitRa was obliged to provide potable water and sanitation services in the service area on an exclusive basis and was responsible for all billing and collections. In addition, all the facilities and assets of GWCL came under the care and custody of Aqua VitRa during the term of the management contract. GoG received financial support from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group for this contract through a US$103 million credit to finance system expansion and rehabilitation, the fee of management contractor, a severance program and to build domestic capacity. With the IDA funding, the government set a goal of installing at least 50,000 new household connections, the majority of which was to be to low income households and for the provision of stand-posts. On June 6, 2011, the contract period ended. The Government of Ghana chose not to renew the contract citing its non-performance, and Aqua Vitens Rand officially handed over its operations to Ghana Water Company.