Construction engineering company Group Five said on Wednesday its legal team was still pursuing its contractual rights and entitlements for payment, including the recovery of damages and other claims, against Cenpower Generation Company over what it called the unlawful termination of the Kpone project in Ghana.
In November, Cenpower terminated Group Five's contract to construct the $410-million Kpone independent oil and gas-fired power plant after more than a year's delay. Cenpower imposed a $60.5-million fine for the costs to be incurred to complete the works and the recoupment of estimated losses and damages.
The following month Cenpower instituted claims and demands on the performance bonds put in place as security by Group Five for delay damages due to the inability of the latter to complete the project by the scheduled completion date of September 13 last year.
On Wednesday Group Five said the demands to its bank guarantee providers for the payment of the full value of bank guarantees in issue of $106.5-million were adhered to and paid out to Cenpower.
It said payment was made on the basis of the legal requirements of on-demand bonds – which state that bonds must be separated from the contract and their related contractual claims and disputes – and not on the merits of the contractual claims presented by Cenpower.
"In terms of the contractual process, the group and its local and international external, experienced legal experts continue to progress its contractual rights and entitlements for payment of all amounts due and owing under the contract, including the recovery of delay damages ... and other claims against the client," it said.
Group Five said it expected to finalise the majority of these counter claims over the next three to four months, after which they would be submitted to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris for resolution, a much faster process than arbitration.
"The group expects a ruling to be made by the end of 2019," Group Five said, adding that any amount it would be held liable for, or entitled to, needed to be either agreed between the parties or determined through the dispute resolution mechanism in the contract.