To commission four transmission stations by FebruaryTHE Federal Government has floated about 67 power projects in Lagos State, under its National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) scheme.The projects, being managed by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC), are presently at various stages of completion, while four of them are slated for commissioning in phases between now and February.The Managing Director of the NDPHC, James Olotu, confirmed this to The Guardian during the oversight inspection of NIPP projects by the Senate Committee on Power in Lagos recently.He said: 'the NIPP has 67 electricity projects in Lagos. And every month, starting from this month (December), we will be delivering at least two or three of them, until we finish all of them. We already have four transmission projects that will be delivered between this month (December) and February next year. They are big and lofty projects.'Among the expected projects are transmission stations at Oworonshoki, Agbara, Ikeja West and Ojo.'Each of them has minimum capacity of 60 megawatts, and we are delivering them for Lagos. Henceforth, Lagos will not be the same again in terms of power supply,' he added.On the electricity equipment that was confiscated by the Nigerian Ports Authority, he said that the Senate had intervened and the Customs that sold the equipment was co-operating.According to him, 'every effort has been made by various intergovernmental agencies to ensure that all the containers move out of ports and go to sites. And we are getting very good result from them so far. When we stop getting that support, we will take them to the House of Assembly, which is ready to bring those who are responsible for the act to book.'NIPP was conceived in 2004 as a fast- track government funded initiative to stabilise Nigeria's electricity supply system.The Federal Government, therefore, incorporated (NDPHC) as a limited liability company to serve as the legal vehicle to hold the NIPP assets, using private sector-oriented best business practices.The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Philip Tanimu Aduda, who led the team on the inspection, said that work was in progress at all the power facilities, adding that the contractors were doing their best to ensure that they beat time limit.'We are here to go round the various power station distribution centres to ensure that they live up to expectations towards providing power for Nigerians. And we will ensure that they come alive and working,' he said.On the problem of gas shortage to power plants, he explained, 'we are trying to handle the gas shortage problems. We have discussed with the minister of Petroleum Resources and she has promised me that they will talk about it and call the Nigerian Gas Company to discuss the modalities of ensuring gas supply.'The problems are really numerous and we have to sit down on a round table and solve them, because you will find out that some of these power stations are also owing the gas companies.You will find out that we Nigerians are also owing PHCN, so how do they reconcile that. We need to pay our bills so that they too can pay for their gas and so that they can have steady supply,' he added.
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