Ghana's ambitious Petroleum Hub project in Jomoro in the Western Region is facing renewed scrutiny after checks into the consortium fronting its $28 billion Phase 2 reveal a history of failed megaprojects, mailbox entities, and individuals with no verifiable track record in financing projects of such scale.
The project,
which commenced in 2019, was billed as Africa's largest petroleum and
petrochemical hub.
But six years
on, residents and analysts fear it risks degenerating into a massive
land-grabbing exercise.
From $12bn to
$28bn, No Pipe Laid
Phase 1 of the
hub, launched in 2024 at a cost of $12 billion, has stalled completely. Two
years after its launch, the consortium involved has failed to raise even the
$100 million required for land compensation for affected Jomoro residents. No
steel pipe has been laid for any petrochemical complex.
Despite this,
the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation, which now operates with state-paid
staff, has proceeded to launch Phase 2, with a price tag of $28 billion.
The New
Consortium: A History of Announcements and No-Shows
At the centre
of Phase 2 is Global Sphere, led by UAE-based founder Abdullah Al-Sayegh, who
has been active since 2001. A review of Global Sphere's public record shows a
pattern of large-scale announcements that never materialized: In Vietnam, the
company announced the $30 billion Hanoi Wall Street project over a decade ago.
Hanoi authorities shelved the plan after Global Sphere failed to prove
financial capacity. In the same country, its $300 million solar factory in Huế
broke ground in January 2013 and was abandoned by October.
Similar
announcements include a $10 billion investment package in Egypt including a
refinery, over $50 billion in projects in South Sudan, a $200 million cement
plant and $785 million worth of projects with Hanoi's Hanel in 2012, and a $204
million hotel project at El Alamein in 2015.
In total, the
company has announced more than $90 billion worth of projects over 14 years
without a single verifiable megaproject successfully executed.
A Bank With No
Banking License
Even more concerning
is the financial partner of the consortium, Doubletree Capital Bank.
Investigations
show Doubletree is not a licensed bank but a mailbox operation registered at
the Apollo Business Center in Beverly Hills, California, with a contact phone
number in Fresno.
Its principals,
Hong Choi and Michael Choi, have no verifiable history of financing
megaprojects. The company's advertised approach involves "monetizing"
sovereign guarantees, an arrangement experts describe as highly risky for a
sovereign state like Ghana.
From Telecoms
Audit Unit to Mega Fund-Raiser
The public face
of the consortium is Boubacar Belco Bah, a former Malian civil servant.
Until January
2025, Mr. Bah served as Deputy Head of Mali's state telecoms access fund
(AGEFAU), a role he rose to from the internal audit unit, before he and his
superior were relieved of their posts in early 2025. Shortly after, he emerged
as the lead promoter for the Petroleum Hub project under the banner of AMS
Technologies.
The only known
footprint of AMS Technologies is a small, nondescript renewables project near
Bamako.
Some sources
link the same Kati-area project to Somacoth SA, a company that was barred by
the African Development Bank (AfDB) for fraud in 2025.
Unviable Deals
Attract Non-Investors
Analysts say
the development raises fundamental questions about Ghana's investment packaging
strategy.
"If Ghana
keeps packaging unviable deals, it will keep attracting non-investors," a
source familiar with the project's structuring noted.
The Petroleum
Hub Development Corporation is yet to publicly respond to queries about the due
diligence conducted on the new consortium.
For the people
of Jomoro, who were promised jobs, industrialization, and transformation, the
wait for even land compensation continues, while the cost of the dream moves
from $12 billion to $28 billion
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