Oscarline Onwuemenyi
16 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Federal Government has commenced its plans to improve electricity supply across 15 communities within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with the installation of two transformers of 200MVA transmission capacity at Katampe and Apo areas of Abuja.
The Minister of State II in the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Hassan Suleiman Zarma, who gave a speech at the commissioning said that the project is worth $2.3 million (about N59.7m), adding that the initiative became imperative as power generation continues to rise above 7,000 megawatts (MW).
Mr. Zarma who represented the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola at the commissioning and at the 24th power sector meeting hosted by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) at Katampe, said the ministry is meeting with Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on how to evacuate the stranded 2,000MW under the new Customer Eligibility Rule of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
He noted that government is working on a Distribution Expansion Programme to construct infrastructures of 2,000MVA capacity to evacuate the stranded power. The minister also said through the Government of Japan, power capacitor banks worth $10 million are being installed at Apo and Keffi substations and that “it will significantly improve the quality of power supply from Apo substation.”
The Project Manager of MBH Power Ltd., contractor for the Katampe project, Mr. Rakesh Manapatra said they worked 24 hours to meet the timeline given by TCN as the firm had said not meeting the timeline would mean transferring the work to TCN engineers for completion.
Also speaking at the commissioning ceremony, the Managing Director of the TCN, Alhaji Usman Gur Mohammed, said that the 100MVA was added to the old 120MVA capacity while another was installed at Apo which had 190MVA to improve supply across over 15 towns including Gwarinpa, Maitama and the airport.
He said, “With this installation, the capacity has been raised to 220MVA. Similarly, the Apo 132/33kv substation has been raised from 190MVA to 290MVA.”
