The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that the Federal Government has approved a memo providing a framework of investment at the 33KVA and 11KVA line in expanding the national distribution network, to deliver an extra 2,000MW of electricity to consumers, which is currently not getting to the grid.
The Minister made this assertion while fielding questions from reporters at the State House after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) Meeting in Abuja, even as he lamented that the 2,000MW of electricity cannot reach consumers because of lack of distribution capacity. He added that those extra megawatts are not getting to the grid because the networks are not sufficient to support more than 5,000MW.
He pointed out that while the Federal Government has 40% equity and the Distribution Companies (DISCOS) have 60% in the power sector, the DISCOS will be compelled to make additional investments which they were supposed to have made.
“The process will involve international efforts for the procurement of the equipment, lines and all of the accessories to build those networks and there will be more under international procurement standards. The Federal Government will put our own 40% and ask the DISCOS to put their own 60% and other parties who are interested will have the opportunity to improve the investments.
“This is just to accelerate action to ensure that the 2,000MW that is available now gets to the grid and gets to the people because power is coming. We are expecting many more power plants to complete this year which will add almost 1,600MW to the grid.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
