Nigeria is set to put up Africa’s second-largest hydroelectric plant after its government resolved a legal dispute that was deterring the project from take-off.
The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station will only be second to Ethiopia’s 6,000-megawatt – Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in size and capacity.
The facility is a complex of dams constructed on the Donga River in the eastern Taraba state. It will produce 3,050 MW of power upon completion. The final output capacity is equivalent to a quarter of Nigeria’s current installed capacity.
“We have now resolved the major problem stopping this project and it is nearly over,” Power Minister Sale Mamman said. He added that the settlement terms are being finalized under the office of Nigeria’s Attorney General – Abubakar Malami.
A consortium of Chinese companies including China Energy Engineering Corp. and Sinohydro Corp. Ltd will undertake the project estimated to cost US$ 4.8 billion, about US$1 billion less than earlier estimates.
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The firms are expected to start construction this year in line with President Buhari’s ambition of tackling the energy deficit in Nigeria. The president has pledged to pledging to rehabilitate dilapidated power infrastructure in the country and build new ones, including the massive Mambilla facility.
The minister criticized the 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria for failing to utilize all available power or pay for the energy they purchase. “From the look of things, I do not think they are capable because they cannot meet what they are required to do,” he said.
Nigeria’s power production is majorly from gas-fired plants – which accounts for about 80% of the 13,000 megawatts of installed electricity-production capacity. Distribution companies are in most cases unable to take up generated power, citing dilapidated transmission infrastructure.
The Nigerian government and Sunrise Power and Transmission Co., which once held the construction contract, were engulfed in a legal battle which pushed the Export-Import Bank of China to shy away from financing the project.
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