Senate Joint Committee on Power,
Steel Development and Metallurgy and Gas Resources on Monday ordered suspension
of planned commissioning of multi million dollars Kaduna gas plant over
disagreement between Power Ministry and Gas contractors.
The decision followed a one day
investigative hearing on the “Urgent need to save the 215 MW Kaduna Power
Plant”, presided by Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe and Albert Bassey in Abuja.
The power plant, which was
inaugurated in 2009 by former President, Goodluck Jonathan to service textile
industries in Kaduna has been three years behind the scheduled commissioning.
Lawmakers who were equipped with
information on the gas plant became dissapointed, when the Permanent Secretary
of Power, Mr. Louis Edozie could not explain the change in parameters of the
plant from gas powered plant to diesel powered plant contrary to the original
design.
The Permanent Secretary further
told the Committee of planned commissioning of one unit out of eight by
January, 2018, adding that the plant would use diesel instead of gas.
Disclosing that diesel is
expected to cost the country N46 million per day, the lawmakers, however,
became alarmed at the cost and said it was cheaper for the plant to run on gas.
Chairman of GreenVille LNG, Eddy
Van Den Broeke, who led his team to address the Committee said that the company
had a Memorandum of understanding with the Kaduna Gas Plant to build storage
facilities for the plant at no cost.
He also stated that while the
plant would produce a kilowatt of electricity at N79 if run on diesel, it will
produce the same kilowatt of power at N37.
He said that his company had, as
a result of the MOU it signed with the Power Plant invested the sum of $400
million on its Gas plant in Roumuoji, Port Harcourt
“In 2014 when the parametres were
signed it was agreed that LNG is most competitive. We have invested $400million
after which people in the ministry decided to change the parametres.”
“It will cost $200 million more
to use AGO(diesel) because there is no other fuel available that can replace
LNG and GreenVille. I would want the ministry to give me one cent of response
on this change of theory.”
Co-chairman of the Joint
Committee, Senator Albert Bassey announced the suspension of the planned
commissioning.
He said: “Please tell your
Minister to stop the process of commissioning because the project cannot be
ready even by mid next year.”
“We are insisting that it will be
cheaper to run the plant with Gas and Gas is environmentally friendly. Let your
Minister know we cannot be taken for granted.”
Decrying the change in
parameters, Abaribe said: “We have heard a lot of disturbing things and we have
seen that we have put the Cart before the Horse.”
“You see one price at N79 and the
other at N35, why do you go for the higher cost which is not cost effective. If
you are going to spend N46 million daily to run a plant and you said it is
temporary, that is not effective.’
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