From 2012 to 2016, Ghana experienced one of her worst times in power supply resulting in the rationing of power locally referred to as ‘dumsor’.
The situation was so bad that government resorted to emergency power arrangements to prevent a total collapse in power supply in the country.
One of the ways was to attract private participation in the power supply to augment what was being supplied by government. Mainly among them was thermal and solar.
METKA’s presence in Ghana
It is in the light of this, that METKA, the EPC Business Unit of MYTILINEOS S. A., a multinational Greek company presence in Ghana, that in no doubt gives interesting signals and hope in finding permanent solution to this perennial power crisis in the country.
METKA, with its core strengths in Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) and manufacturing, is in the country to leverage its industry expertise and financial capacity of its mother company, MYTILINEOS, to provide financing and life-cycle solutions for critical power projects.
With this commitment, METKA, within the past three years of its presence in the country, has carried out and is currently executing power projects of major importance to the local community and has employed over 2.000 people from the region.
Project Experience in Ghana
The Company specialises in the construction of power plants from design and procurement through to construction and completion, and has achieved an unprecedented penetration in developing markets abroad, with projects currently underway in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, constituting it as one of Greece’s leading exporting companies.
Given its strategic focus on expanding business operations in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa in particular, METKA has completed a 250 MW Fast Power project with 10 General Electric TM2500+ mobile gas turbine power generating sets in the region of Takoradi, already in operation since February 2016. More recently, METKA started the construction of two additional major projects in the country: a) a 200MW combined cycle dual fuel power plant in Takoradi (Amandi Energy) and b) a 200MW combined cycle tri-fuel power plant in Tema (Bridge Power), whist simultaneously carrying out full O&M services for the Takoradi mobile power plant.
A giant on the world stage with its headquarters in Athens, Greece, METKA, the EPC Business Unit of MYTILINEOS, is committed to become a leading player not only in Ghana, but in the sub-Saharan Africa power market.
Its focus
METKA is focused on serving the needs of the international markets and is active in carrying out major power plant projects throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with strong emphasis on highly-efficient power plant construction.
Today, leveraging its values and capabilities, METKA has evolved into a leading international EPC contractor, recognized for its reliability, flexibility and strong execution track-record.
In addition to the track-record in successful project execution, METKA pursues its development strategy and aims at expanding its business activities into new regional markets with booming energy needs.
Bauxite
The good news is that MYTILINEOS is not in Ghana for the power sector alone, but is also looking at the prospects of the bauxite industry, pegging its strength on the growth and competitiveness of its Metallurgy Business Unit.
MYTILINEOS’ Metallurgy Business Unit, is the second largest bauxite producer in Greece and Europe, with an annual production of 650,000 metric tons of bauxite exclusively from underground mines.
With this morsel, the company is hoping to use its vast experience and expertise to soar the bauxite industry in Ghana to become one of the major foreign exchange earners in the country. It remains one of the strongest pillars of Greek industry, with an annual production capacity exceeding 182,000 tons of aluminium and 820,000 tons of alumina.
Protection of the Environment
The measures and principles adopted by the Company for the protection of the Environment include the adherence to the agreements and commitments that the Company has undertaken over and above its statutory obligations, the control and continuous reduction of solid, liquid and gas waste and the improvement of the management of residues by promoting recycling or utilisation procedures and the assessment of the impacts of the activities of the Group companies on the environment, identification of risks, assessment of the risk of serious accidents due to past, present and future activities.
A key objective for MYTILINEOS is to create and maintain in all its Business Units a work environment that helps achieve a “zero accident and zero occupational diseases” target. The use of management practices whose aim is to identify, recognise and eliminate parameters and conditions which may lead to undesirable events such as accidents and occupational diseases, together with the systematic efforts undertaken to develop and adopt a culture focusing on the prevention of accidents and diseases at the work premises, is a long-standing commitment in its daily operation.
The company’s utmost priority is to protect on a daily basis the health and safety of its employees in the work premises of all its subsidiaries.
The “zero accident and zero occupational diseases” target is the only acceptable target, which also represents a major challenge for the heavy industry sector.
Labour front
Recognising the value of the people’s contribution to the business evolution and future growth, the company is committed to maintaining labour peace.
The company supports an equal opportunities staffing policy, and provides remuneration packages, reward systems and benefits and allowances to employees and their families, offering over and above those the statutory ones and helping improve their quality of life.
The secret to the successes of MYTILINEOS is that it invests in its employees, as it recognises that its business success and the future growth are due to them. It makes sure that all its employees enjoy job security, equality, stability, a high level of professional and personal satisfaction, loyalty and commitment to the corporate values.
CSR Impact
METKA pursues Business Excellence with a sense of responsibility towards society, the environment and people creating value for customers, business partners and shareholders. In that sense, METKA’s CSR rationale in Ghana, and West Africa in general, is to identify the urgent needs of the local communities and engage in the necessary actions to promote their development and well-being.
Recently, for instance, the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly brought forward the idea to reduce the danger trucks pose to the pedestrians and drivers by parking at the shoulder of the roads on the highway and in the city. For this cause METKA supported the Assembly and their efforts towards road safety, with the allocation of a considerable amount.
In addition, the St. Nicholas preparatory school, located in the port of Tema New town, the same district as the Bridge project, which is run entirely on voluntary donation and receives no state funding, expressed the urgent need for a catering facility to cook meals for the school children. METKA made a significant donation for the kitchen, equipment and summer hut for the children, so that they could sit down and enjoy their meals together.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM