The federal government of Nigeria through the Minister of Power, Eng. Abubakar D. Aliyu has assured that the Mambilla power project would soon get underway as discussions are being intensified with the parties involved to resolve all hindrances preventing full take-off of the project.
The Mambilla Power Project in Taraba State, which has a planned capacity of 3,050MW was conceived over 40 years ago and it has been bugged by unresolved legal tussle that has delayed the start of works.
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The federal government and the contractor who was first awarded the contract (Sunrise Power and Transmission Company) for the construction of the plant are yet to resolve the legal tussle, which came into being after the contract was re-awarded to a Chinese firm’s consortium.
The Mambilla power project will only kick-off after the issue is resolved, and the US$ 5.79bn contracts with the consortium of Chinese contractors are approved. The Chinese Export-Import Bank will finance 85% of the development while the Nigerian government will contribute the remaining 15%.
Siemens project under Presidential Power Initiative
On the sidelines of the Mambilla power project announcement, the Federal Minister of Power promised to focus on the Siemens project under Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), expressing confidence that it would be successful.
As a recap, Siemens Nigeria and the federal government entered into a Power Infrastructure revamp agreement dubbed the Nigerian Electrification Roadmap (NER) in 2020.  Under the NER the FG will expand Nigeria’s electricity capacity from the current average output 4,500MWh/h to 25,000MW.
Aliyu revealed that the first phase of the PPI is the upgrading and expansion of the vital infrastructure of the TCN and Discos with the end goal of achieving 7,000MW. He further explained that this first phase started in earnest this year, with the ongoing pre-engineering phase, adding that the selected EPC Contractors will soon be contracted officially so work on the project implementation can commence.
