Deals to save Ashanti announced as court vacates orders

Collection of road tolls privatised

Business picks up with the commissioning of a ferry boat

Accra (Greater Accra) 18 Feb. 2000

Ashanti Goldfields Company (Ashanti) said on Thursday that an Accra High Court has with immediate effect vacated the order restraining the company from entering into any further financing arrangements.

A statement issued in Accra said the court has also vacated the order compelling the company to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting on March three.

Meanwhile, Radio Ghana reported on Thursday that an agreement has been reached to save Ashanti from collapse.

It said the deal, which was reached after two days of talks in Accra, also resulted in a board shake-up but the Chief Executive, Mr Sam Jonah retained his position.

Five directors will lose their positions in addition to the Chief Financial Officer who resigned earlier.

The broadcast said with the agreement, Ashanti can now gain access to a 100-million-dollar loan to develop its Geita mine in Tanzania.

On Wednesday, Ashanti said it had reached an agreement with the government and two others on a High Court order against it.

It said in a statement that a Memorandum of Understanding had been entered into between Ashanti, Government, Lomin Plc and Adryx Mining and Metals Limited of Luxemburg, a minority shareholder which was one of the applicants which instituted the action at an Accra High Court.

"The parties have agreed that a joint application by Ashanti and Adryx, on behalf of applicants, will be made to the High Court of Ghana to lift its earlier order restraining Ashanti from entering into any financial arrangements and to vacate the order convening a court-sanctioned Extraordinary general meeting on March Three."

The statement said Ashanti now expects to move swiftly to finish the documentation and draw down of the proposed new 100 million-dollar facility to enable it to complete the Geita project in Tanzania and replenish working capital within the group.

"The company intends to fast-track the auction of a 50 per cent joint venture interest in its Geita Project in Tanzania."

Ashanti had been in trouble since late last year when its hedging policy backfired in the face of a sudden appreciation of gold prices on the world market.

Creditors then moved on the company amidst numerous crises meetings in Accra and London to bail out the company.

Four shareholders took the company to court and obtained a ruling asking for an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) of shareholders to elect a new board of directors.

The court granted the plaintiffs' relief and directed that the EGM should be convened on Friday, 3 March.

The court ordered that notices for the meeting be placed in foreign and local newspapers such as the Financial Times of London, Wall Street Journal of New York, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times.

Additionally, notices should also appear in equivalent newspapers of mass circulation in Canada, Zimbabwe, Australia and New York, on whose stock exchange AGC is listed.

GRi../

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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 Feb. 2000

Collection of road tolls has been transferred from the Ghana Highway Authority to the private sector so as to improve upon their operation and increase revenue to the Road Fund, Mr Kingsford Amoah, Director of the Road Fund Secretariat, said on Thursday.

The transfer of toll collection to the private sector, which took off on 1 February, saw other roads being added to the Tema Motorway which, before then, was the only road being tolled in the country.

Mr Amoah said six companies are collecting the tolls on the roads. They are Crown Channel Limited, Bet-Buttco, Veterans Association of Ghana, Africa Road Services, Sakaman Limited and Mackam Investments Limited.

He told the GNA in an interview in Accra that road tolls currently account for two per cent of the total Road Fund that is 60 per cent of the country's road maintenance requirements.

Apart from road tolls, revenue to the Fund, which is meant for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the country's roads, comes from fuel levies, vehicle registration and road user fees and international transit fees.

Mr Amoah said motorists should not fear toll hikes since the new system, introduced under the Tolls Amendment Act, has rates fixed by parliament and the collectors are limited to them.

He spoke of reports of some motorists, especially those plying routes that were not being tolled before 1 February, when the Act came into force, querying why they were asked to pay.

Mr Amoah maintained that roads are like other facilities that are paid for and motorists must, therefore, be prepared to pay for using them.

He said the Armed Forces, Police, Fire and Prisons Services, Diplomatic missions, Government and Mission Hospitals, including ambulances, and the Ghana Red Cross Society are the only bodies exempted from paying.

New roads currently being tolled are the Kumasi-Sunyani-Berekum-Dormaa-Ahenkro, Kumasi-Mampong-Ejura, Tamale-Paga and Tema-Akosombo.

Tolling on the Kintampo-Tamale and Sunyani-Dormaa-Ahenkro roads are yet to start pending the installation of booths.

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Kpando (Volta Region) 18 Feb 2000

The commissioning of a ferry boat to ply between Kpando-Torkor and Afram Plains three weeks ago has brought about brisk business between the two areas.

A survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency showed that several truck loads of yams and other foodstuffs and passengers arrive and depart daily at both ends.

This has increased business activities especially for drivers who convey passengers, foodstuffs and fish to marketing centres in Accra, Somanya, Koforidua and elsewhere.

The boat, MV 4th Republic was commissioned on 29 January this year, at Kpando-Torkor to facilitate travelling on the Volta Lake and to reduce rampant marine accidents of small private boats.

The boat is capable of carrying large volumes of cargo in addition to passengers and plies between Kpando-Torkor and Afram Plains three times daily.

Some residents of Kpando while happy at the provision of the ferry feared that smaller private boat operators who have been seemingly thrown out of business could engage in sabotage activities that could ground the boat.

Mr John Tende, a farmer and Mr Johnnie Ackulley, an industrialist appealed through the GNA to the government to immediately rehabilitate the Gbefi Bridge on River Dayi which links the Hohoe District to Kpando to enable the people benefit from the booming business.

GRi../

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