By Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The federal, state and local governments have approved an $18 million worth electricity transmission project – a 330 kilovolt (kV) by 132kV, transmission substation – to be built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Limited (NDPHC) in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State, to improve the quality of electricity service to its residents, the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, has disclosed.
Speaking on Tuesday in Lafia where he commenced the construction of the transmission project, Ugbo stated that Lafia which relies on supply from the power transmission line in Akwanga, some 93 kilometres away, would be switched to the new line once it is completed before the end of 2018.
He explained that the governor of the state, Mr. Tanko Al-Makura, made a passionate appeal to the federal government which subsequently considered the merit of his appeal, and asked the NDPHC to intervene.
The NDPHC is jointly owned by the three tiers of government in Nigeria, and was set up to help improve the capacities of Nigeria’s power sector. It has reportedly built power generation plants, transmission and distribution systems.
Ugbo however said: “This project was conceived by the NDPHC to improve power supply to this state, Abuja and neighbouring states. Before now, this state is being served by a power source that comes all the way from Akwanga, an extremely long, 93km 33KV line that is a distribution high voltage line but not high voltage transmission.”
Details later..
