The Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) has said the government is putting five power plants in the country for sale after the previous privatisation arrangement was cancelled.
Alex Okoh, director-general, BPE, disclosed this in a virtual conference organised by the Electricity Hub, saying, “We are in the process of restarting a fresh transaction and it is going to be a competitive bid. We are going to advertise for five out of the 10 power plants Geregu, Omotosho, Olorunsogo, Benin, and Calabar IPPs.
“These are the plants with the least problems and as a result of that considered to be the most viable and likely to be the most successful of the exercise.”
The government will be advertising for expression of interest very shortly and has approved a fast track approach to realize revenue within this fiscal year, he said.
The government plans to front-load all the requirements for the investment to shorten the time period for when the process will be completed.
According to Okoh, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has approved the re-privatisation of Yola DisCo.
“We have a new core investor, approved last week by NCP,” Okoh said.
The government is also trying to ensure that payment are structured so that the core investor do not come up with the entire cash in one swoop to allow revenues for investment in improve the network infrastructure
Okoh also said that Yola DisCo, which covers the northeastern part of the country where insurgency is going on, the new investor and the government have mapped out areas where collections can be made and areas termed red zones where services cannot be rendered.
The new DisCos managing Yola franchise area is now Quest Electricity limited and has completed the sale with the FG last Thursday
Afam power plant was completed in November, N105 billion and it is a strong indication that there is strong interest in the sector, Okoh said.
Source: Business Day
