The Minister of Power, Engineer Abubakar Aliyu on Tuesday said the federal government has opened discussions with all stakeholders on the 215Megawatt Kudenda Thermal Power Plant in Kaduna State and assured that contractors will soon return to the site.
Daily Trust reports that the power plant, a project of the Federal Ministry of Power was awarded in 2009 to General Electric and Rockson Engineering for a dual thermal plant using diesel and gas.
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The project has been stalled for almost 11 years even though the minister said it has reached over 80 per cent completion.
Speaking with journalists after an inspection tour of the facility in the company of Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Engineer Aliyu said work on the project will be revived soon as all encumbrances on this project are being removed.
The minister who said it is too early to give a new completion timeline however said there are presently four partners handling the project while the ministry was interfacing with the NNPC on the supply of gas as soon as the project is completed.
“Before the gas is connected, the plant will make use of diesel. The project has reached over 80 per cent completion but the work was stalled and so we are now trying to revive it.
“We are returning to site very soon to complete it. Government has a lot of such plants such as the Gurara with 30MW, the Zungero with 700MW, Kashimbilla which is already giving 40MW to the grid, and the Dadin Kowa with 40MW. With this power plant, we intend to increase the energy,” he said.
Earlier, Governor Nasir El-Rufai hinted that because the national grid has not been reliable, the Kaduna State Government was looking at building its own transmission network.
