23 September 2013, Abuja – The Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, said about $1.8 billion is expected to be realised from the distribution companies (discos) unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). when the private investors finally take over the assets in October.
He also said in a presentation entitled: “The status of PHCN Transaction and Implications for National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) Transaction,” that the need for reliability and self-sustenance to ensure predictability and security of the transmission system had informed government’s decision to engage a Management Contractor for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The Director General disclosed that the total investment expected to be made in the distribution companies when the private investors finally take over in October was about $1.8 billion.
He added that the investment would cover among others, metering, new customer connections and network expansion, reduction in number of customer interruptions and health, safety and environmental practices.
In a statement signed by the agency’s spokesman, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, Dikki noted the decision was also predicated on the belief that the Management Contractor would bring in invaluable experience on the sector development, provide clear targets and incentives, build capacity of TCN staff to prepare them for future roles, post-management contract and completion of the unbundling and independent operation of the system and market operator functions into an independent system operator, thus allowing the entities to concentrate on their core functions.
He said the Management Contract with Manitoba Hydro International (MHI), which was in the second year of the contract, had so far delivered 18 milestone reports on different facets of how TCN would be transformed.
On the implications of the NIPP on the power transaction, Dikki said the transaction had shown that there was a strong demand from private sector to participate in the generation and distribution sectors of the electricity industry.
– This Day
