The Managing Director of Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), Edwin Alfred Provencal, has hinted that the company has reduced its trade liabilities by over three-quarters, through his efforts to improve the activities when he took over.
According to him, his outfit has paid some $585 million out of the $624m which was in arrears back in 2017.
Mr. Provencal who revealed this at the Meet The Press encounter on Sunday, September 26, 2021, explained that the company was “a very sick organization as of 2017.”
He said 73% of the liabilities were offset using internally generated funds by June 2021, adding that, he believes, is laudable in addition to some 27% provided by the government.
He further explained that “We did not do that by going to government alone. BOST contributed to the payment of this trade liabilities through our internally generated funds amount to 73%.”
He insisted the efforts are being made to service the rest of the trade liabilities by 2022, adding that, a forensic audit was also conducted into BOST’s BDC claims to the tune of about $37 million.
He said “After the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), National Security among other agencies, were brought in to investigate the claims. Each of these companies who claimed they were owed $37 million now accepted that we owe them $11 million.”
The BOST MD noted that “We saved this country a whopping 26 million” adding that the move is part of efforts to improve the books of the state agency and allow for ample space to operate in the country’s oil and gas sector.
The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) is currently embarking on a strategy that seeks to enhance operational excellence and aggressively grow the business.