|
New Page 5
NB signs power-supply pact with local IPP
NigeriaN
Breweries (NB) Plc has signed a letter of intent with leading indigenous
independent power producer, Geometric Power Limited, to supply three megawatts
(mw) of electricity to the brewery�s Aba plant in Abia State.
The plant currently has a maximum supply
capacity of 2.5mw generated from its power sets since it is not linked to public
power supply because of the latter�s unreliability on account of inefficiency.
Agreement between NB Plc and Geometric was
signed at Eko Hotel, Lagos.
Managing Director/chief executive officer
of NB Plc, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, and the chairman of Geometric, Prof. Bart Nnaji,
globally renowned professor of Industrial Engineering and former Science and
Technology Minister, signed for their various organisations.
"This agreement shows our commitment to
the success of the power project which Prof. Nnaji and his international groups
are building," Odimegwu said.
At the completion of the $100 million
independent power project IPP) in 2006, the NB Plc plant in Aba will be supplied
with the three megawatts of electricity.
Mr. Odimegwu said the NB signed the
agreemenet because of its desire to reduce operating cost and "because of Prof.
Nnaji�s international reputation, his experience in building and managing IPP�s,
and the fact that our relationship will be market-determined."
The brewery will pay Geometric N11.00 for
each kilowatt of power, as opposed to the N18 which it now spends on the same
amount of energy which is internally generated.
"This will translate to considerable
reduction in energy cost. What is more, our generators will last longer, as they
will be used sparingly. Geometric is guaranteeing us 90 per cent supply
efficiency. The only time there will be a disruption in supply is when Geometric
shuts down for, say, one hour to carry out scheduled maintenance; and this will
be done once in a blue moon. In other words, we shall be spending fewer
resources on operations and maintenance," Odimegwu stressed.
Nnaji was the chairman of the Geometric
Power Renatech Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle {SPV} which built the
15-megawatt Abuja Emergency Power Station commissioned by Vice President Atiku
Abubakar in December, 2001, and until recently had been supplying electricity to
the head office of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Aso
Rock, and the International Conference Centre, among other major places.
Prof. Nnaji had earalier at the agreement
signing ceremony, explained that the Aba power project was started in response
to the federal government�s target of achieving 10,000 mw by 2007, "a big task
for NEPA, given its enormous financial constraints."
He noted that the National Electric Power
Authority (NEPA) needed N700 billion to realise the national mandate, but
regretted that "the money is not there in view of competing national demands for
other national priority projects."
In Aba, one of the leading manufacturing
cities in Nigeria, power supply is quite poor. According to Nnaji, "for several
days, there would not be electricity in many parts anmd when it eventually
comes, the quality is so poor that it can scarcely carry a four-feet flourescent
tube. Consequently, we are not just building a power generating station in Aba,
we are going to distribute electricity for which we are leasing NEPA�s
facilities for 25 years."
The Geometric chairman, while thanking the
government for permitting his company to build the 105 mw IPP station, pointed
out that the project waws 100 per cent privately owned and managed.
Those associated with the company, he
disclosed, were General Electric, the world�s biggest electricity firm based in
New York, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector
lending arm of the World Group.
Mr. Kola Oni, NEPA�s chief operating
officer in Lagos, who stood in for the Managing Director, Chief Joe Makoju,
because of the nationwide workers� strike against the recent increase in prices
of petroleum products, commended Geometric for the Aba initiative.
He requested other private organisation to
take a cue so as to meet the national target of attaining 10,000mw in the next
three years, assuring prospective investors of the support of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, the Ministry of Power and Steel and NEPA, as in the case of Geometric.
Oni observed that power generation would
not have been a problem in Nigeria if generating stations had been built
betwneen 1990 when the Shiroro station was commissioned and 2000 when contracts
for fresh facilities were awarded.
Among over 300 big industrial concerns in
Aba which have expressed interest in subscribing to Geometric Power are
Guinness, Nigerian Bottling Company, PZ, Star Paper Mill, Onwuka Hi-Tek, Glass
Force and Equitable Industrial Associates as well as Aba Textile Mills.
|
