23 July 2013, Abuja – The Nigerian government and its Chinese counterpart have commenced a joint partnership move aimed at developing Nigeria’s hydro-electrical sub sector, as part of the administration’s steps towards revamping the power sector.
The two countries were represented in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, by Nigerian conglomerate, AMA Investment and Infrastructure Holdings and Chinese hydro-electric and construction power house, Sinohydro Corporation.
The MoU which was signed in the presence of Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, will have the two countries collaborate on the design, financing, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of the Gurara integrated power project.
The signing took place at the Nigeria-China Investment Forum, which was hosted by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Gurara large-scale infrastructure project comprises a multi-purpose dam, a hydro-electric power plant and related agriculture, real estate, tourism, public water and transportation infrastructure, to be developed around Gurara River in Niger and Kaduna States of Nigeria.
The two parties agreed to work on the project together with other investment partners, including the Federal Government of Nigeria and the relevant states’ governments, under the Public Private Partnership, PPP, model.
The project will add about 360 MW of power generation capacity to the Nigerian power grid, and will enable several thousand hectares of irrigable agricultural land, producing enough food to feed more than half of Northern Nigeria.
This is in addition to other aspects of the project such as real estate, tourism, transportation and water infrastructure.
Ejiofor Alike, This Day
