The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu has said the government is currently evaluating the selected contractors that would deliver on the Siemens power deal to raise the national grid to 7,000 megawatts (MW) within 10 months in the first phase.
Engr. Aliyu stated this on Thursday at the annual workshop of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) in Abuja.
Daily average electricity is presently at 4,000MW with peak power hovering around 4,500MW and occasionally, 5,000MW. The Siemens Nigeria Electrification Roadmap (NER) was initiated in July 2019 with an end-to-end model between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Germany with a goal to secure a reliable and affordable electricity supply. Phase one of the project will gulp about $2.3 billion, reports said.
Speaking, the minister who was represented by the Minister of State, Power, Mr Goddy Jedy-Agba, said, “The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contractor has been selected. Government is currently evaluating the procurement process and we are confident that a positive outcome will emerge. This project has reached an advanced stage of activities in line with the Siemens project implementation plan.”
The minister also explained further: “This first phase which began in 2021 will go on for a period of 10 months with the end goal of pushing to 7,000MW. So far, there has been no hitch as the team is currently in the pre-engineering phase.