FG Obtains $1.5bn Fund For Power Transmission

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said it has obtained $1.55 billion from multilateral agencies to revive some critical projects and expand the transmission grid.

Interim Managing Director of TCN, Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, disclosed this at the 18th Power Sector Stakeholders’ meeting in Kumboso, Kano State, on Monday.

He noted that the intervention came from the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Union and JAICA.

He said, “The strategy is that we have approached the multilateral donors and we have been able to raise some significant money. We have also resuscitated some projects that had not been doing well, like the Abuja Transmission Project, which is supposed to provide three sub-stations and provide another avenue for supply through Abuja from Lafia.

“We have also resuscitated the JICA project that had been on the drawing board for a long some time now. These two projects, plus other projects is about $1.55bn which is coming from the World Bank, the African Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank, JICA of Japan and the European Union is also giving us a grant,” Mohammed said.

He also noted that, “We have a stranded load generation of about 2,000mw. This is not healthy for the development of the sector.

“On growing the load and avoid load rejection, we are working with DisCos to see how to improve their capacity and we have appointed interface focal officers to help them pick more load,” he noted.

The TCN boss who assumed office in January this year said the public firm was now working towards realising 20,000mw of transmission capacity in the next few years, a statement by the Principal Manager (Public Affairs), Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, said.