The Federal Government has said it is making steady progress towards achieving the target of the Roadmap it set last year for the power sector.
Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, who presided over the meeting of the Presidential Action Committee (PAC) on Power on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, told reporters in Abuja that government effort so far resulted in the supply of about 3,824 mega watts (MW) of electricity last Monday, the highest level in recent times.
“We (government) are making good progress in a number of areas, though we want to do better. The highest level of electricity supply of 3,824 MW was achieved last Monday. We had a very successful road show on the privatization of the power sector, and we harvested an encouraging number of expressions of interest for the companies on offer for sale. We expect that most of them would be quality investors, who are willing and committed to help the success of the road map,” he said.
The minister said government is interested in partnering with companies that possess not only the financial strength and technical competence, but also those with the commitment to drive the business and deliver electricity as quickly as possible, to make the power sector flourish.
“We are working on a mechanism to gather direct feedback on specific areas government needs to focus attention on to improve the situation,” he said.
Impressive growth
Special Adviser to the President on Power, Barth Nnaji, said the meeting reviewed government’s effort to improve and stabilise power supply in the country, pointing out that apart from generation, significant improvements were recorded in the area of electricity transmission.
In December 2010, he said electricity transmission capacity achieved 98 percent improvement of the target set under the Roadmap, from 5,155.2MW at 330kV level and 6,676.8MW at 132kV level last July to 5,515.2MW and 7,328MW at 330kV and 132kV level respectively.
Since last December, the adviser said two more 60MVA transformers have been commissioned in Dakata and Port Harcourt municipality, with four more billed for Ajaokuta, New Haven, Katsina and Birnin Kebbi to be energised before the end of this month.
In addition, he said 11 transformers with 60MVA 132/33kV capacity have since arrived the country awaiting installation at various locations nationwide, to help boost the electricity transmission capacity to the 100 percent target under the Roadmap.
According to Mr Nnaji, “Before now, power supply was fluctuating between 2,000 and 3,000 MW. Today, we are making progressing. It would not be possible for Nigerians to feel the impact, even when the supply rises to 4,00MW, because the gap between demand and supply is quite huge. The important thing is that government is doing what it needs to do to grow power supply to an appreciable level where the people will begin to feel the impact,” he said.
Holistic approach
He said government is now looking at the development of the entire infrastructure in a holistic manner, rather than focus only on generation and transmission. Director General BPE, Bolanle Onagoruwa, said about 331 expressions of Interest (EOI) were harvested from prospective investors in the 11 distribution and six generating companies, made up of 167 for distribution companies and 174 for generating companies at the expiration of the deadline last Friday.
Though the BPE boss said the EOIs are yet to be opened, she said the bureau will finalize the evaluation criteria within the next one week, while the evaluation process will begin immediately after.
She assured that investors are not likely to face gas supply challenges, as all the power plants now being privatised already have their sources of gas supply.