Egbin plant sale: BPE waits on NCP

As the efforts towards a full commercialization of the Inconsistent Power Sector in Nigeria gets underway, the Bureau of Public Enterprises is eagerly waiting on the National Council on Privatization (NCP) to approve the sale of the Egbin power plant.

The Egbin Power plant which is the biggest in the Nation, should be able to deliver at a higher capacity if properly and technically commercialized, and it is with this reason that the BPE is hopeful that the NCP will expedite efforts on the process.

Already a Consortium led by the Korean Electric Power Corporation has shown interest in bidding for the strategic power plant and if the negotiations tally with the satisfaction and estimations of the NCP, a deal could be sealed within few days.

The National Council on Privatization whose chairman is the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other high ranking government officials and representatives of the private sector, is in charge of scrutinizing commercial deals and transactions in the country.

A source linked to the Privatization process revealed that “The Bureau of Public Procurement has approved the revaluation contract and the valuers will move to site next week to actually revalue the assets and submit a report within a month,” a source close to the privatisation process had told our correspondent last year”.

It was also discovered that the deal would have been sealed in 2007, if not for the decision of the Late President Umaru Yaradua to suspend the liberalization process in the power sector at the time the Korean Company was to pay about $280 million to gain 51 percent stake in the plant.

Federal Government has spent huge amount in rehabilitating and maintaining the power plants across the Nation, but with strategic public private partnership deals that will guarantee the viability of the plants in the Nation.