Managing Director of BOST touts massive transformation in operations since 2017
Managing Director for the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation, BOST, Edwin Provencal has touted the massive transformation in the operations of the company since the NPP administration took over in 2017.
Mr. Edwin Provencal made this pronouncement on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 when he interacted with the media on the operations of BOST in Accra.
According to the Managing Director, BOST, a company strategically mandated to keep the national strategic petroleum reserves and transport petroleum products from one depot to another throughout the country was in a very deplorable and distressed state in 2017.
He explained that the woes of BOST included financial liabilities, infrastructural deficit, audited accounts, legal liabilities among others. These liabilities according to the Managing Director were responsible for the annual losses BOST was recording in its operations.
Giving specific details, BOST as at 2017 had trade liabilities amounting to US$624 million, Legacy Loans of GHS 416 million, Bulk Distribution Companies (BDC) claims of US$ 37 million, Capital Expenditure liability of US $109 million and legal liability of GHS 161 million.
In addition, the company as at 2017 was also owing the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) a total of GHS 47 million being tax arrears from 2010 to 2014 and years of audited accounts.
On the infrastructural front, a significant portion of the company’s pipelines used for the movement of oil were not functional. Also, Marine facilities of the company-tugboat, floating dock and barges were 100% grounded hence inactive.
One crucial facility of the company – Depots and Storage Tanks were not operating at optimum capacity. The Managing Director disclosed that as at 2017, 51 tanks had been decommissioned whiles 50% of their depots were out of service.
Despite these challenges, the MD announced that the policies and programs implemented by management to salvage the situation have yielded positive results and have turned around the fortunes of the company in the space of few years.
Touting some of the achievements so far, Mr. Provencal was happy to announced that GHS 384 million of loans owed by BOST, representing 92% has been paid adding that GHS 187 million of the amount paid was from Internally Generated Funds (IGF).
He added that out of the $37 million BDC claims, a forensic audit commissioned by BOST has been able to reduce the claims to $11 million. According to the MD, this new claim has been agreed and signed by all the BDCs.
He further announced that the over $600 million trade liability has also been paid in full by BOST adding that 68% of the amount was paid through their IGF.
In addition, the tax arrears inherited by the new management has been paid in full. Moreover, all the unaudited accounts of BOST have audited and signed off from 2015 to 2021.
“In terms of the GHS 47 million tax arrears, I can tell you today that we don’t owe GRA. We don’t have any arrears with GRA. We are up to date,” Edwin Provencal announced.
In order to deal with the tampering of BOST’s pipelines, the management is currently installing Intrusion and Leak Detection System to safeguard the company’s pipelines.
Mr. Provencal again indicated that BOST has also being able to increase the revenue earning assets from 34% to 95% adding that the company has also been able to reduce the Barge loading time from 7 days to 2 days and inter-depot loading time from 4hours to 1hour 30 minutes due to improved operations.
“It also used to take us almost 7 days to load all our barges but we did some reengineering and some replacement of equipment and valves at Akosombo and what that has done is that it has enabled us reduce the Barge turnaround time from 7 days to almost 1.5 days. That is huge operational efficiencies. We are able to do more in less time,” he said.
Source: ABC News
