National Integrated Power Project - 3/5/07

A total of $7.3billion is committed to the construction of power plants across the country under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and the Mambila Hydroelectric power project in Taraba state.

The plants are expected to generate 10,000mega watts of electricity upon completion by 2008

Minster of Finance Mrs. Nenadi Usman, made this known in Abuja yesterday. Speaking at the "Workshop on Oil Savings and Infrastructural Gap" organized by the ministry and some international bodies, the minister said the scheme which commenced two years ago, will increase power supply and reduce the cost of doing business in the country.

"At present, we are implementing the National Integrated Power Project which is expected to provide an additional 4500 MW of power by the end of 2007. And this is at a total cost of about $4.1 billion. In addition, we are investing a total of about $3.2 billion in a hydroelectric plant in Mambila. And as we move forward with these projects, I am confident the government will hit the 10,000MW target by 2007/2008," the minister said.

Mrs. Usman also said the government will spend billions to maintain federal roads across the country a way to further boost economic development.

"Similarly, when you examine road infrastructure projects, the federal government is making a number of significant outlays. There are a number of major road construction projects currently in progress such as the Kano-Maiduguri highway and the East-West highway among others. To make sure the existing road networks are well maintained, we have allocated about N17billion in Budget 2007, solely for road maintenance by FERMA (the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency)."

"Infrastructure development is important for one fundamental reason: it is needed if we are to improve domestic productivity and thereby support economic growth. For many low-income countries, weak infrastructure serves as a major constraint to economic growth and also to national poverty reduction goals."

"In 2004, it was estimated that frequent power outages resulted in an estimated loss of nearly 15 per cent of manufacturing output. And because of the frequent power cuts, manufacturers often need to use generators to meet about 70 percent of their power needs - and at an average cost of about 5 times the cost for normal electricity supply! How can we be competitive in international export markets when some of our input costs are about 5 times the normal levels? And how can we compare Nigeria's 4500 MW of electricity generated for a population of 140 million people, with that of South Africa which generated about 45000MW of power for 45 million people?" she questioned.

"On road infrastructure - again, we had a number of weaknesses in this area. The World Bank recently estimated that Nigeria had about 31 per cent of roads paved compared with about 52 per cent in middle-income countries. Railroads - again rail transport in this country, was almost non-existent. There had been no investments in railroads for decades and the infrastructure has deteriorated."

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir elRufai, in his presentation titled "Bridging the Infrastructure Gap in Nigeria," said poor infrastructure have made life more difficult for the people and tremendously increased the overall cost of doing business in all sectors of the economy.

Back to the Hydroelectric Power Index