Chidi Goziem, chairman and managing director of Bastanchury Power Solutions Limited, has assured Deltans that beyond supplying power to the assets and facilities of the Delta State Government through the newly inaugurated Asaba Independent Power Plant (Asaba IPP), the entire state capital would also experience 24-hour uninterrupted power supply.
This was as Niran Ajakaiye, the managing director, Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited and chief investment officer of Africa Infra Plus Fund (AIPF), said that the Asaba IPP project would rob off on the entire Asaba community as there would be improved power supply and security.
The duo spoke in an interview with journalists in Asaba, Monday, during the commissioning of the Asaba IPP, a power plant that would generate 8.5 megawatts of electricity in the city.
The project commissioned by Yemi Osinbajo, the vice president of the country was executed by the Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited and Bastanchury Power Solutions Nigeria Limited which are all private entities.
Ajakaiye commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for taking a bold step to partner with the firms to ensure 24-hour interrupted power supply in the state capital through the deployment of the world-class independent power project.
He said the project comprises an 8.5mw power plant and over 25km underground electricity distribution network.
As part of the nation’s drive to end gas flaring, this project utilizes locally sourced natural gas as fuel to provide electricity to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of over 40,000 employees of the Delta State Government, Ajakaiye disclosed.
Read also: Osinbajo inaugurates Delta secretariat, IPP project Monday
He said the project came to fruition because of the state government’s commitment to purchase the power generated by the plant.
Explaining further on the impact of the project, he said that with the government’s assets fully supplied from the Asaba IPP, the load shedding in the Asaba metropolis from the electricity distribution companies (Discos) would be reduced to the barest minimum.
He said that the supply that would have come from DisCos to the state government institutions would be redistributed to households and other corporate organisations, translating to longer hours of electricity supply for the capital city.
“The partnership is that we said we will build, finish everything, then the state government made the commitment to buy power from us.
“Everything here is funded by us not by the state. Their part is that they committed to buying, they guaranteed an off-take for us.
“Now, they are enjoying it, even paying cheaper than what they would have gotten from Disco because it is a bulk purchase, so you can negotiate a discount
“All the government assets in Asaba are covered, it is like buying a big generator for all your assets,” he said.
Ajakaiye emphasized that local businesses would also thrive because of a more regular power supply, noting that “if all the government facilities are taken off the grid, Disco can now provide sustainable longer coverage to other areas, reducing load shedding to a very minimal percentage”.
“That is the multiplier effect. Businesses will grow because they would not load shedding. Government hospitals, public health centres, the courts, street lights, airport and other institutions of government are all connected to this IPP.”
He debunked rumours that the plant was built without Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and insisted that the state government had no equity stake in the enterprise but that five percent was magnanimously gifted to the state.
He said that the facility has the capacity to expand its areas of coverage outside government facilities but added that the laws would however need to be revisited to accommodate that.
