Ibadan — Governor Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has flagged off the Independent Power Project (IPP) in Oyo State as he signed a 400 million dollars Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the generation of 250 megawatts of electricity with a South African consortium.

The project which is in phases has completion period of between 8-10 months for the 25mw and 18-24 months for the 250mw before it becomes operational. While the 25mw is estimated at 35 million dollars, the 250mw costs 400m dollars.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Governor Alao-Akala said the planned IPP project which would consist of thermal plant would be environmentally friendly while the major target includes companies at the Oluyole Industrial Estate as well as those along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the industrialists at the Gbagi business district. The governor also said the project is 100 per cent financed by the consortium while the state government would only provide an enabling environment. Specifically, the state government would make available adequate land to the consortium firms to install their equipment while efforts would also be made to obtain the necessary concessions from the Federal Government, he said.

Government, he said, would not relent in its efforts to make the project a success since the initiative was seen as the journey towards regular and uninterrupted power supply in the state.