| Nigeria’s National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has approved the shortlisting of 525 bids of firms seeking to take over the generation and distribution companies that will emerge from the privatisation of the country’s power monopoly, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
According to Thursday’s edition of the local Businessday newspaper, a breakdown of the bids shows that 253 were pre-qualified for distribution companies while 272 were for generating companies. Last year, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) handling the privatisation process sought prospective investors’ interest in the 11 distribution companies unbundled from PHCN. It also invited interest in the four thermal power stations and concessionaires for the two hydro power stations. The pre-qualified bidders will be required to pay a US$20,000 fee for each company of interest and sign a confidentiality agreement before receiving bid documents. The pre-qualified bidders for the distribution companies are expected to be existing power distribution companies or core investor groups with power distribution companies as long-term technical partners. Successful bidders will be responsible for operating the distribution companies, making the necessary investments to improve the distribution network and customer service in line with the objectives of the Federal Government of Nigeria set out in the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP). As for the generating companies, potential bidders/concessionaires should be existing local and/or international power generators or investors with power generators as long-term technical partners. They will be responsible for operating the stations, improving the generation capacity and making the necessary investments in line with the objectives of the Federal Government of Nigeria set out in the NEPP |
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