The Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, FNSE has said that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources is willing to partner with North South Power Company Limited in the development of several existing dams for power generation.
Engr. Suleiman stated this on Tuesday 21st June, 2016 when the board members of the company led by the Chairman paid a courtesy visit to the minister in his office.
The minister said, the partnership is a good development as this has demonstrated that Nigeria now has competent hands in handling such issues which were hitherto left in the hands of foreigners.
He also stated that the ministry is thinking towards that direction of partnership with the private sector in the development of the new and existing infrastructure of the sector for the development of small hydro power schemes.
He added that the ministry in partnership with the Ministry of Power has set up a Steering Committee on how well the ministry can concession the small hydro power schemes for adequate power generation. The Committee, according to him would come up with regulations and information that would attract would be investors in the sector.
Responding, the Chairman of the company, Mallam Ibrahim Aliyu said that the partnership with the ministry would be achieved by building the powerhouse and installing the electro-mechanical components to generate power from some of the dams they have identified.
Speaking further, he said that some of the assets of the ministry identified to be used to increase the power generation of the country include the 30megawatt Gurara 1 Hydropower plant in Kaduna, 10mw Tiga dam Hydro Power plant in Kano, 10mw Oyan dam Hydro Power plant in Ogun, 8mw Challawa dam Hydro Power plant in Kano and 6mw Ikere dam Hydro Power plant in Oyo state.
The Chairman added that the company would raise money from their projects to explore viable opportunities in those identified areas without calling on government for financing. He added that under the joint venture, the ministry and the North South Power Company Ltd will jointly develop the projects and share revenues accruing from the sale of electricity in the proportion of each party’s contribution.
Margaret E. Umoh
Director (Information & Public Relations)
FMWR
