TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it will build three power plants with 4600MW, in the northern part of the country.

The power plants, to be located in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, would rely on gas supplies from the planned Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project.

Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the NNPC, disclosed this when Abubakar Bello, governor of Niger state, paid him a courtesy visit.

Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, NNPC, explained that the AKK pipeline had started yielding early benefits with the commitment by NNPC to build power-generating plants.

Quoting Baru, Ughamadu said the project would be financed through public-private partnership (PPP) in an effort to provide stable electricity in the country.

“As part of the drive to establish power plants to augment the power supply to the nation, the federal executive council has recently approved the AKK gas pipeline project to be financed through public-private partnership (PPP),” Baru was quoted as saying.

“The project comes with other auxiliary ones which include, 1350 megawatts, 900 megawatts and 2350 megawatts of power generation plants in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano respectively.”

Baru said in line with the presidential mandate on oil exploration in all the frontier basins, the NNPC was well-focused on the exploration in the Bida Basin and would carry out the job professionally.

Bello and Baru

“We have contracted the geological mapping of the Bida Basin to Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai and the job would be completed in three months,” Baru said.

He explained that once the geological mapping is completed, the NNPC’s Integrated Data Services Limited would be engaged to carry out the other aspects of the seismic activities, which would be completed by July 2018.

The GMD said the corporation would go into more detailed 2D seismic data acquisition in the Bida Basin by August 2018, to be followed by an environmental impact assessment exercise in order to establish what the baseline is.

Baru explained that talk was ongoing with the ministry of works, power and housing to re-introduce weight bridges on the highways to checkmate the issue of excessive loading by tankers above the recommended 46, 000ton gross weight.

He said the NNPC had already directed all its depots nationwide to stop loading tankers with loading capacity above 40, 000litres.