The Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) has dismissed claims made by Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) about the operations and investments of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
This follows an interview John Dramani Mahama granted on Woer TV on Sunday, August 9, 2020 where he made claims about the investment into the airport, annual income and an alleged sale of the airport.
He said the NDC was against the alleged sale of the airport by government. He argued that it is wrong to hand over a state asset which he said was valued at five billion Ghana cedis to a foreign company allegedly for US$70 million.
According to him, the country’s premiere airport is among the five best airports on the content. The former president who described the move to sell the airport as strange suggested to government to trigger clauses under the airport expansion loan agreement to enable rescheduling of the loan facility.
But in a detailed response to the former president, the GACL said the allegation of 66% of KIA’s shares being sold for US$70 million is unfortunate and inaccurate stressing that the airport is “NOT FOR SALE or being privatized.”
It explained that it only received a proposal from a Turkish Consortium which it did not solicit and is yet to consider.
“For the records, Kotoka International Airport is NOT FOR SALE or being privatized…..Rather, an unsolicited proposal has been received from a Turkish Consortium which is yet to be considered. It is rather unfortunate that certain figures from the proposal are being used to peddle untruths,” it stated in a statement.
Responding to the former president’s suggestion to government to trigger insurance clauses under the agreement, it said “it is not government’s responsibility to invoke the force majeure clause. GACL at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered the force majeure provision under the loan agreement and has been in discussion with its lenders to meet its obligations,” adding “government, has under the Covid-19 Relief Programme, extended support to GACL.”
While describing as untrue the NDC leader’s claim that it is unable to repay a loan facility it took, the company dismissed his claims that US$600 million was invested into the airport. It said the stated amount maybe in reference to investments made into some projects of all airports in the country and not only KIA.
It further refuted claims by Mr. Mahama that KIA makes a total income of at least US$200 million saying the Airport Passenger Service Charge (APSC) only applies to departing passengers thus it makes far less income than the amount alleged by Mr. Mahama.
