Mount Prospect company wins $350 million contract in Ghana

A 13-employee engineering firm in Mount Prospect beat foreign competition to win a $350 million rural electrification contract from the government of Ghana, the company said Thursday.

Weldy-Lamont Associates Inc. will provide procurement, engineering, installation and management services.

"We'll be contracting with U.S. suppliers from the Midwest to California to Florida to Georgia," Weldy-Lamont President Patrick J. Hennelly said in a statement. "This five-year project is going to help them immensely because normally they are suppliers to the housing industry, which is in a slump. This will help manufacturers avoid layoffs."

The government of Ghana sees the ongoing program to bring electrical connectivity to its people as the underpinning for the country's economic growth and poverty reduction. The goal is to connect all eligible communities with a minimum population of 500 people, or about 3,800 villages, to the national grid by 2020, the company said.

An estimated 45 percent of this contract price will go to small businesses.

A significant part of the company's growth is due to increased export business in recent years to countries including China and Thailand, the company said.