FG promises steady power by July 2010

The Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has promised Nigerians that they would enjoy stable and adequate power supply in 15 months from now.

The Vice-President spoke on the strength of an ongoing tour of the National Integrated Power Projects’ sites, which he is undertaking with some state governors and Federal Government officials in his capacity as the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Council on NIPP.

“By the grace of God, we will get it under 15 months”, he said, adding that the Yar’Adua administration was determined to ensure that the prevailing epileptic power supply situation in the country becomes history.

Jonathan, who noted that an Italian delegation had visited him earlier in the day with a proposal to invest in the power sector, also canvassed Chinese investments in other sectors of the economy.

“Nigeria is still an untapped forest for investment in a number of areas,” he said.

He said that the government was determined to attain the Vision 2020 goal of making the country one of the top 20 global economies.

Although he said the Federal Government would create employment through commercial agriculture, the Vice-President urged the private sector to do more to provide jobs for unemployed Nigerians, saying “there is a limit to what government can do”.

Earlier, the 38-man Chinese trade delegation had urged the government to renew suspended contracts for the construction of the Mambilla Hydro Power Project and the development of the country’s railway system by Chinese firms.

The rejuvenation of the two stalled contracts, which were initiated by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, also featured prominently on the agenda of the delegation, which met with the Vice-President in the State House on Monday.

China Gezhouba Group Corporation was awarded a contract to build the 2,600megawatt Mambilla’s plateau hydropower station in 2007.

The project was supposed to be financed with a loan from the China Exim Bank to the tune of $1.6bn, and in exchange for the loan, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation was supposed to receive four oil blocks in an auction of oil resources which was organised by the former government.

The execution of the contract was stalled following reports that several vital details were not properly sorted out, a situation which led to protracted negotiations between Gezhouba, CNOOC, China Exim Bank and the Federal Government.

Also, the $8.3bn Lagos-Kano rail project which was awarded to the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation by the former government was suspended by the President Umaru Yar’Adua-led administration to enable it to renew the project following reports of inflated prices.