The lingering tussle over who owns the Aba ring-fenced area has finally been laid to rest as the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) prepares to hand over the facility to Geometric Power by 12pm, February 15, 2022.
“BPE will at noon today hand over Aba ring-fenced DisCo to Geometric electric. It is big, capable of adding to more to power supply than has been added since the last eight years, ” a source close to deal told BusinessDay.
Experts said this development is seen as a great achievement for Nigeria’s power sector as the $500 million Geometric/Aba power plant has the capacity to produce and distribute about 141 megawatts (MW) of electricity in its first phase, with new distribution lines, four new sub-stations and three rehabilitated sub-stations.
Each plant is to produce 47 MW of power, supported by a 60 MVA per transformer. The power plant is to be powered by gas and so the company has built a gas plant at Shell company flow station at Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State and laid a pipeline spanning 27 kilometres to the power plant at Osisioma.
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It will be recalled that on May 11, 2004, the Federal Government, the now-defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and Geometric Power Limited (GPL) entered into and executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which GPL was granted the exclusive right to construct a 3 x 35 MW open cycle gas turbine power plant and designated sub-stations in Aba, Abia State, which would generate electric power for distribution by Aba Power Limited (APL) to residential and commercial customers and to industrial clusters in a ring-fenced island in Aba.
The government, NEPA and APL executed a lease agreement on April 28, 2005, for the distribution of power to the ring-fenced residential and commercial consumers in Aba. By the terms of the agreement, NEPA assigned its right to distribute electric power in the ring-fenced area of Owerri-nta, Osisisoma, Ogbor Hill, Factory road and Port Harcourt road in Aba and also leased its distribution facilities within the contract area to Aba Power Limited.
A supplementary agreement was made on August 31, 2006, between the Federal Government, represented by the minister of power and steel, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Enugu Distribution Company (EDC) and Geometric/Aba Power Limited. EDC and TCN were substituted for NEPA as parties to the lease agreement of 2005 and assumed their respective obligations.
