Group Upbeat about 2021 Completion Date for Zugeru Power Plant

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Legacy Awareness and Campaign, a voluntary think-tank group within the party, has stated that the 2021 completion date for the 700MW Zungeru Hydropower Plant, which will be one of the biggest in the country, remains sacrosanct.

The group stated this in a statement issued yesterday and jointly signed by the party’s Youth Leader, Mr. Ismail Ahmed; former Party Scribe, Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu, presidential aide, Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, and the Director-General of Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, while giving the scorecard of the present administration in the power sector.

The group said since 2015, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has focused on completing inherited projects, “many of which had been abandoned or facing funding challenges; resolving the liquidity issues faced by players in the sector; promoting off-grid/renewable initiatives, especially targeting underserved communities and vulnerable populations; and ensuring robust consumer protection for on-grid electricity consumers.”

Aside this, the APC group said the Buhari administration has embarked on the completion of 40MW Kashimbila Dam and Hydropower Plant; 10MW Katsina Wind Farm; 30MW Gurara Hydroelectric Power Plant, which has been completed and concessioned to the private sector last year.

According to the statement, “The 700MW Zungeru Hydropower Plant is scheduled for completion at the end of 2021. It will be one of the biggest power plants in the country.

“The new projects started by the APC-led Buhari administration include the private-sector-led Azura Power Plant in Edo State (460MW), for which the financial close was facilitated in 2015/2016, and was completed in the first quarter of 2018, several months ahead of schedule.”

The group stressed that the Buhari administration had also built the Afam 3 Fast Power Plant, with a capacity to generate 240MW of electricity.

It noted that following a competitive bidding process, the new plant has been sold alongside the neighbouring Afam Power Plc (966MW installed capacity) to Transcorp Plc, “in demonstration of the administration’s belief in the managerial capacity of the private sector.”

It further noted that the National Mass Metering Programme was launched in August 2020 in line with a presidential directive to ensure that all Nigerians receiving electricity from the national grid are metered.