Market News

By Eugene Agha

Barring any last-minute changes, the N123 billion power intervention project embarked upon by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to come on stream in May 2024.

CBN had in August 2022 approved the sum of N122,289,344,369.39 for intervention in the nation’s power sector.

The projects, which cut across the states of the federation, were aimed at resolving the transmission and distribution bottlenecks and improving supply to end users while unlocking the unutilized generation capacity in the country.

Speaking during a tour of some of the project sites in Lagos by officials of CBN and heads of the DisCos, Engineer Matthew Ajibade, head of the Project Management Office, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), revealed that about N85,432,335,688 of the approved sum had been disbursed to 53 contractors across the country to execute the projects.

Ajibade said already, 10 of the power transformers have been delivered while 43 others, ranging from 150MVA, 100MVA and 60MVA, are expected to be delivered and installed on or before the May 2024 deadline.

He noted that the manufacturing process for most of the contracts is scheduled to be completed early next year to pave the way for shipment and delivery.

“We are already working ahead of time. This means that by May 24 all the projects would have been delivered.

“Aside, the equipment, such as the large transformers, that were sourced overseas, the engineers working on the projects are indigenous companies. This is part of CBN’s stipulated terms and conditions for the disbursement of the fund.

“Some other parts were also fabricated locally by certified companies. The project is to fast-track the development of electric power projects, especially in the identified industrial clusters in the country.”

Also speaking, Assistant Director, Infrastructure Finance office of CBN, Mr Rumba Abdulrasaq, who is the head of the team, expressed satisfaction with the progress of work done, noting that most of the equipment needed for the projects to be completed had been supplied.

According to him, the decision to site the 53 transformers in specific areas was reached after a nationwide inspection tour by all stakeholders.