Oscarline Onwuemenyi 30 March 2015, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Federal government has issued a water use permit to Winners Power Garden Ltd for the construction of an earth dam capable of generating 28 megawatts of electricity.
The permit would enable the company gain access to the proposed project site as well as finalize the project design after which a substantive water use license would be granted to the company after due diligence.
The company announced in a statement that it had an embedded power license from the Ministry of Power to generate 28mw of electricity from damming the Okura River located close to Ofejiji village in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
With the embedded power license, the company said it would be able to generate and use its electricity without transferring to the national grid.
To boost electricity generation in the country, the Federal Government recently said it would attach hydropower components to all dams across the country.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, said the hydropower components would be incorporated in the designs of the dams in order to increase electricity generation as well as improve socio-economic activities in the nation.
According to her, “Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations.”
Ochekpe explained that the present administration had committed a lot of resources to ensuring development in the sector, adding that some of the abandoned projects in the sector had been completed.
She urged stakeholders to come together and ensure that the country’s natural resources were developed in a sustainable manner.
