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Sanwo-Olu: Alausa power project’ll be expanded to meet current reality

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 IBRAHIM QUADRI

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday promised to expand the Alausa Independent Power Project (IPP), saying the capacity would have to be scaled up to meet current reality.

The Governor disclosed this to newsmen shortly after inspecting the facility at Alausa, Ikeja.

“It is a power plant for Alausa and a lot of adjoining streets, lighting as far as Ojodu, Ogba, Oworonshoki and Ikeja.

“One of the reasons we are here is to see how we can optimize the usage of the plant. It is part of the requirements,” Sanwo-Olu said.

He explained that the plant was inaugurated seven years ago, adding that there was need to augment the light up project in the State.

“We are discussing with our partners on how we can upscale it. We are still going to come with two new facilities. What we have here cannot meet the requirements. We want to go as far as Ikorodu, Adeniyi Jones, Oworonshoki and Oba Akran,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Former Governor of the State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who inaugurated the plant in 2013, had said that the IPP would improve the efficiency of the Lagos State Public Service.

He added that extensive power audits undertaken by his administration would go a long way in supporting the Federal Government’s power reform initiative.

“The IPP is not the final destination, it is hoped that in the next few years, Lagosians will gather to celebrate the first made in Nigeria gas turbines,” he said.

Fashola, who is the Minister of Works and Housing, also harped on the need for energy conservation, noting that residents of some housing estates in the state spent massive funds daily on diesel to fuel generators.

The 10.6 megawatts plant, which will run primarily on natural gas, will also power street lights within Alausa and Ikeja communities.

“With the switching-on of the round-the-clock IPP, the state secretariat has become the first government office to be run on its own power. “Not less than 120 heavy duty generators, with their attendant environmental pollution, have been incapacitated by the project,” Fashola said.

He reiterated that the solution to infrastructural, economic and employment challenges in the country was the patronage of made in Nigeria goods.

Fashola pointed out that the project was a fully indigenous, made possible through public-private-partnership.

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