Benue To Construct 10mw Power Plant At $18m – Ortom

Governor Samuel OrtomGovernor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has disclosed that the state government, in conjunction with an investor, Contec Global, will construct a 10 Mega-Watt (MW) of embedded power plant valued at $18 million to grow economic activities in the state.

A statement issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Head of Public Affairs, Dr Usman Arabi, stated that Ortom announced the plan at a visit to the commission on Tuesday in Abuja.

Ortom said that the planned power plant would be dedicated to industrial layouts in the state.

According to the statement, the acting Chairman of NERC, Dr. Anthony Akah, said that NERC would assist states that intended to invest in the power sector to improve the volume of power to Nigerians.

He said that the commission was planning to have a meeting with the 36 state governors on the investment opportunities in the sector.

He said that Ortom and other state governors should take interest in the ongoing consultations on mini-grid regulation.

The chairman said that the governors could explore the mini-grid regulation to provide electricity to areas in their states not connected to the national grid, adding that NERC would provide the needed assistance.

“There is regulatory guarantee on your investments; we will get some of our staff to work with your team and guide you through the technical and other requirement for the issuance of a licence”.

Akah expressed concern at the high incidence of violation of right of ways and trading activities under transmission lines, adding that it had led to many accidents in the power sector.

“Each time we have accident in the sector, we feel we have lost one of our own.

“Most of these accidents are preventable and we hope we can work with state governments on how we can reduce accidents to the barest minimum”.

He solicited the assistance of Benue government on the payment of debt owed operators in the power sector by ministries, departments and agencies.

The Project Coordinator of Contec Global, Mr. Shashi Mozumder, said that the company had been issued a Certificate of Occupancy for the project site.

Mozunmder said that the power plant would also comprise three units of General Electric 3.4 megawatts turbines fuelled by gas transported with trucks from the oil fields. (NAN)