Kano set to refuel economy with on multi-billion Naira IPP investment  

If everything work according to plans, the plant which is being developed by the Kano Hydro and Energy Development Company (KHEDCO), an agency of the state government, is scheduled to come on stream in the month of October, this year.

The coming on-stream of the plant which is designed to generate an estimated 7.2 megawatts of the electricity for a start is expected to impact positively in the conservation of monetary resource being expended by the state in servicing electricity bills as it involves some key state public utility establishments.

Hadiza Ahmed Tukur, managing director of KHEDCO told BusinessDay on Friday in Kano that construction work at the Tiga Dam Independent Power Plant has at the moment reached 95 percent completion.

The IPP project situated on Tiga Dam is programmed to leverage on the raw-water from the man- made dam, this is one of the two IPP projects which the state government is financing its development in order to address the challenge of electricity shortages that experts have cited as the chief factor responsible for the de-population of industrial activities, in Kano.

Kano is a known industrial hub in northern Nigeria, but in the past two decades has being experiencing low activity as a result of the electricity challenge which is fueling the social problems of unemployment and mounting insecurity.

The idea of the Tiga, IPP was first mooted by the Kwankwaso administration, along with another 6 megawatts capacity IPP project situated on Challawa Gorge, as part of the state intervention to reduce the state dependence on electricity supply from the National Grid.

Hadiza disclosed that in readiness for the commissioning of the plant in the month of October, his company has received two ‘Water Use licenses’ from the Federal Government for permission to use water facility in the Hadeija –Jamare River Basin to drive the hydropower generation.

She stated that the licenses for the use of water from the Basin had been presented by the executive director, Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources saddled with the responsibility to regulate the commercial use of water by evaluation, inspection, monitoring and licensing operators in the water sector.

The managing director revealed that the presentation of the license was an indication that KHEDCO has met all technical requirements to generate hydropower and transmit electricity from the plant.

According to her, Tiga Hydroelectric Power Plant station which is located in Bebeji Local Government Area of the state, whose source of water is the Kano River with an annual water abstraction threshold (m) of 1.9 billion cubic meters serve raw water to the Tiga dam storage reservoir.

While Challawa Hydroelectric power plant station located in Karaye, Kano State, whose source of water is to draw it water supply from Challawa River which also obtained it supply from Hadejia-Jamare River Basin which is connecting several states in North West Geo Zones of northern Nigeria.

She further stated that an annual water abstraction threshold, 904,000,000 cubic meters Challawa Dam is being stored at the reservoir.

“We are deeply glad about the state of the Kano Independent Power Project. Like I said having received the approval to use water from the Hadeija –Jamare River Basin from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the Tiga dam has been closed from July 10th till October 7th, which is the required 90 days when it will be open after all the engineering works is completed.

“Also work on the evacuation of the power to be generated and it transmission to places where it will be utilized is at completion stage. The transmission lines have been lay to the Challawa water treatment plant. The transmission has also been linked to a Sub –Station at the Tamburawa Water Treatment Plants. The transmission of the commodity is also being liked to another Sub-Station at Sadatu Rimi that supply to all the street lights across the state..

“The work at the Challawa Gorge Dam was expected to fully start in the month of April, but because of the Covid-19 incidence it is presently at excavation stage, and it will go into full operations very soon”, she further disclosed.

Hadiza said some of the major economic benefits of the projects when it fully starts operation was that the state will be saved the huge money it is using to buy oil to power the street lights, as well as the treatment plants.

She added that the leftover energy will be sold to the companies that have been suffering from electricity shortages, which has been hampering their operations, noting that the plants translate into more employment for the people of the state.