Group Five says Ghanaian power project delayed

South African engineering firm Group Five said on Tuesday that construction on its Ghanaian Kpone power plant had been delayed once again due to fuel contamination.

The power plant, whose construction begun in 2015 and was due to be completed in 2017, had previously been delayed due to the late arrival of materials and difficulties with some sub-contractors. “The provision of fuel is the client’s responsibility. The completion and hand over date will therefore be delayed, as it is dependent on the resolution of the fuel contamination,” Group Five said in a statement.

Group Five is currently disputing a claim of $62.7-million made by a customer, Cenpower Generation Company Ltd, for project delays. The company incurred R1.3-billion ($91.57-million) in losses for the financial year ended June 2018, the bulk of which were owed to the Kpone project. The company is going through a restructuring in which it has closed multiple non-profitable businesses locally and cut 602 permanent staff in the 2018 financial year.

South African construction companies have borne the brunt of stagnant economic growth that has hobbled public infrastructure spending in recent years. Shares were down 0.86 percent to 1.15 rand by 1017 GMT after falling as much as 13 percent earlier.