The International Finance Corporation (IFC), Lafarge Nigeria Limited, and Wartsila Development and Financial Services Company based in Finland have concluded arrangement to construct 260MW power plant in Ewekoro in Ogun State.
The cost of the project put at $400 million, according to the Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil is borne out of the realisation that a lot of resources would be required in the power sector’s new direction, which is private sector driven.
Performing the signing ceremony for the project in Abuja, Wakil described the event as a milestone, which underscores the need to fast track the nation’s ongoing privatisation exercise described as the biggest in the world.
The Minister said that the President has also given a marching order to all cabinet members to be Ambassadors in the attraction of foreign investors. He used the opportunity to call on genuine investors to take advantage of the conducive environment in terms of legislative framework, market depth and political will, adding that would be investors are assured of higher yields on their investment.
Speaking at the occasion, Lafarge CEO, Nigeria and Benin, Guillaume Roux, who also spoke on behalf of the consortium, assured that the World Bank Energy Business plan was supportive of the Nigerian’s power sector because of the visible achievements so far recorded in the ongoing privatisation exercise.
He assured that his group was determined to leverage on all resources that would be required to support the sector, adding that the project would be realised in record time.
Roux said that on completion of the project, it would increase the nation’s power generation capacity, thus a substantial leap to supply end in the electricity value chain in Nigeria.
Lafarge has been in the forefront of embedded power source as the company in the recent past has expressed its readiness to put on the national grid excess power produced from its cement plant.
In this case, it is expected that of the 260MW to be produced from the joint agreement, at least 220MW will be available through embedded power to the national grid.
Source : SunOnline