Federal Government to buy 7BN worth of Power Transformers

 The Federal Government has earmarked about N7 billion for the purchase of new transformers and other ancillary facilities to boost the generation and supply of electricity in the country.

Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, disclosed this Sunday in Asaba, the Delta State capital during a two-day  summit and retreat  organised by the ministry for CEOs and other stakeholders with the theme: “ Stable Power Supply ; The Path Towards  Achieving System Reliability”.

Nnaji, who moderated the rap up section, recalled some of the challenges faced by the ministry towards ensuring a smooth privatisation process of the power sector.

He said a transformer of 60mva, 100mva, 150mva to 300mva capacity was necessary to boost power generation and distribution in the country, stressing that the procurement was made possible through the counterpart funding from the African Development Bank (ADB).

According to him, this forms part of the initial implementation plans for transmission  as the transformers which would be imported from Europe would go into the existing station in the three geo-political zones  of the country, adding that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) power distribution capacity in the country was estimated at 5,436megawatts as plans were in the pipeline to improve on the figure in future.

He further hinted of plans to make PHCN workers sign a performance contract agreement.

The minister said: “There will be the signing of performance contract by all the agencies of the ministry, first I will sign the performance contract with  the permanent secretary, all of the CEO’s and Director Generals in the sector and the chairman of the regulatory commission, the permanent  secretary will sign with the directors in the ministry, this is to ensure an efficient performing in the ministry.

“It is not a trivial issues, since it started from the very top, when the President signed the performance contract with the ministers, we are going to carry it all the way through.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-earmarks-n7bn-for-new-transformers/123295/