FG Opens Talks With Gov. Ishaku Over Construction Of 3,050MW Power Plant In Taraba

Babatunde-FasholaThe Federal Government has moved a step closer towards achieving its plan of generating 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2019 following discussions with the Governor of Taraba State, Arc. Darius Ishaku, over the construction of 3,050 megawatts Mambilla Hydropower plant in the state.
The Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, who made the disclosure yesterday, said the project would be the single largest power plant in the country when completed.
He said: “We’ve opened discussions with the Governor of Taraba State, Governor Darius Ishaku, who incidentally was once a Minister of State for Power”.
“The first thing to do is to acquire the land and deal with compensation issues, which the governor has promised to deal with”, Fashola added.
When completed, he added, the Mambilla Hydropower plant would be “the single largest power plant with over 3,000mw in one place and it potentially takes us close to steady power”.
According to Fashola, the feasibility study and Environmental Impact Assessment for the project have been conducted, expressing the optimism that “we move one day at a time closer to starting Mambilla”.
The project, which has been valued at $5.732 billion (about N1.140 trillion), is to be handled by two Chinese companies – Gezhouba Construction Group Corporation (GCGC) and the Sinohydro Corporation.
An official said the project has a completion date of 63 months following which it would be handed over to the federal government.
Nigeria is expected to contribute 25 per cent of the project’s total cost while the China Export Import Bank will provide the remaining 75 per cent.