Group Five’s Ghanaian headache just got worse. The engineering and construction group says there's been yet another delay to completing the Kpone power plant, this time due to contaminated fuel.

Group Five has missed yet another deadline to complete the Kpone oil and gas power plant in Ghana. The contract was supposed to have been completed early last month and, while it faces rising penalties for missing the deadline, it's also suing its client, Cenpower Generation Company.

Its shares fell as much as 21.7% to 90c on the news.

The disastrous project has faced a series of delays, many of them no fault of Group Five's. It blames the latest obstacle on contaminated fuel that was provided by Cenpower. It says completion of Kpone is dependent on the resolution of the fuel issue. Other problems hindering the project included a change in Ghanaian law affecting the clearing of goods arriving at the country's port and also due to setbacks in seawater tunnelling.

In the year to end-June, the engineering, construction and infrastructure group recognised a loss of R1.3 billion on its Kpone contract, resulting in an operating loss for the period. The Kpone delays have also affected Group Five's cash position.

The board and executive management continue to implement strong actions to assess the ongoing financial position of the group," Group Five said. "Due to its materiality, the Kpone contract and its cash flow requirements are separately monitored, with detailed estimated gross cash monthly outflows and inflows."

In the meantime, it has turned to arbiters for relief. It said it had made a submission to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris for claims against the client and that it had been advised that its claims have merit. It has also instituted legal proceedings in the Johannesburg High Court to interdict Cenpower's demand of $62.7 million in penalties from Group Five. Judgement has been scheduled for today.

The company's shares retraced most of their losses to close 0.9% down at R1.15.