Olaolu Olusina
16 June 2009
Lagos — Rivers State government would soon commence work on another 300 megawatts Independent Power Project (IPP) that would supply power to the new Greater Port Harcourt city.
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Media and Publicity, David Iyofor, who disclosed this while speaking with the media, said the project is just one of the 391 that will cover about 350 communities across the state.
Iyofor said, "a lot of the communities are rural and have not been connected to the national grid. The 391 power projects will include installation of high tension, low tension, sub-stations and extensions in these communities.
"This fits into the Amaechi administration's policy to provide power to the people of Rivers State. Presently, we are about completing a 100 megawatts and a 75 megawatts power projects that were started by a previous administration."
Iyofo also said the second Eleme Gas turbine is expected to be completed next year, adding that: "our target is to have a total of 255 megawatts of power by next year. If you add that to the 300 megawatts that we would be building for the new city, we would have roughly 600 megawatts of power. That would make Rivers State very self-sufficient with power, if you consider that Port Harcourt presently needs between 350 to 400 megawatts of power.
"The power projects have been advertised for bidding and the bidding process completed. It has gone to the Due Process Bureau for due diligence. Once it goes through Due Process which will be very soon, we will be electrifying all communities in the state.
"We hope that by December, we would have provided power to all communities in the state. Amaechi strongly believes that all Rivers communities should have regular power, no matter how difficult or impossible the terrain is."
In terms of transmission of power to be generated, Iyofor said Rivers State is about the only state in the country with its own transmission line from Omoku to Port Harcourt.
"We are talking with the Federal Government on how we can handle distribution of power generated from our IPP. Already, this administration is building seven power sub-stations all over the state. Schneider is doing it .," he said, adding that the power projects are part of Amaechi's efforts to rebuild Rivers into a model state.
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