FG signs $1.1m grant for Abuja Power Project with US

The signing of the agreement took place at the just concluded  Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja.

The plant is designed to generate 1,350 megawatts of electricity to alleviate the power challenge in the country.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, said the plan by the corporation to build the 1,350mw power plant in Abuja was part of the national strategy to monetize the abundant natural gas resources in the country.

The USTDA grant will complement the ongoing feed project in order to make the Abuja IPP initiative more bankable for strategic investors’ participation.

The Abuja 1,350MW Independent Power Plant (IPP) project would leverage on the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC upstream and the proposed AKK gas pipeline.

Last November, the minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmud, commended the NNPC on the proposed plant project aimed at boosting electricity supply in parts of the nation.

Speaking during a Panel Review Meeting on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project, the minister said the project was critical to the federal government given its numerous potentials to improve the power situation in parts of the country.

While assuring his ministry’s support towards ensuring actualization of the project, the minister commended the government and the national oil company for the initiative.

“Certainly, this project is one of the critical infrastructures that the federal government is making efforts to embrace,” he said.

In his presentation at the meeting, the Abuja Independent Power Plant Project manager, Benjamin Adah, stated that the proposed project would help diversify and monetize NNPC gas revenue stream through power generation.

The project would also assist in reducing the current gas flare in the country, he said, adding that it would leverage on the existing huge natural gas resources from the NNPC Upstream and the proposed Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas pipeline to boost the nation’s revenue base and generate employment opportunities for the youth.

Mr Adah said that besides generating 1350MW into the national grid, the project would help to decongest the over-voltage on transmission network coming from closely located power generating companies in the gas-producing areas.

The project is expected to be situated on a 54.7 hectares of land in Dukpa, Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja.