TheCable

The federal government says it plans to add an additional 817 megawatts of electricity to the national grid to boost power supply within the federal capital territory (FCT) and its environs.

Sule Abdulaziz, managing director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), said this in Abuja on Wednesday, during the inspection of ongoing projects in the FCT.

Abdulaziz said the project, which belongs to TCN and referred to as the ‘Abuja feeding scheme’, was being funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), a donor organisation.

According to him, when completed, it would contribute an additional 1, 465 transmission lines to the grid, thereby upgrading and reinforcing power supply to the FCT.

“With the additional lines, TCN capacity of transmission lines will be higher than what is in existence and this means that in future, we can build some sub-stations without upgrading the lines,” he said.

Abdulaziz said the project will add five transmission substations, 143 kilometers of 330 kilovolts (KVs) and 81 kilometers of 132 KV transmission lines to Abuja.

“This is part of efforts to increase transmission wheeling capacity in the FCT and environs,” he said.

“The project is categorised into six lots and is far advanced in execution above 85 percent in total completion by December.”

The managing director said the project was designed by the present administration to ensure that in the next 50 years, there would be no need for other substations in the FCT.

“This will be adequate and it will serve the population of Abuja,” he added.

“The government, while making plans for the project, has in mind that if the population of FCT increases within five to 10 years,  there is a master plan that the station will serve the territory in the next 50 years.”