The 215-Megawatt (MW) Kudenda Thermal Power Plant in Kaduna State is yet to take off 10 years after contract for it was awarded, investigations by Daily Trust have shown.
The non-take off of the plant, a project of the Federal Ministry of Power, is despite the fact that over N100bn has so far been spent on it.
The contract for the plant was awarded in November, 2009, to General Electric and Rockson Engineering for a dual thermal plant using Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) and natural gas during the tenure of Architect Namadi Sambo, who was the Governor of Kaduna State at the time.
The plant, which is located at the Kudenda Industrial Area, off Nnamdi Azikiwe Express Way, Kaduna, was designed to use eight installed turbine units to add to the power supply in the industrial areas of Kaduna.
Twelve textile factories located at the Kakuri Industrial Area of the state are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the facility.
Analysts believe that when completed, the project will have a multiplier effect, including more job opportunities and increased revenue.
However, findings show that work on the power plant has been epileptic due to several factors, even as the deadline for completion has been shifted several times since work on the project commenced.
The initial completion deadline for the project was December 31, 2013, but was said to have been shifted to June, 2014.
The Kaduna State Government was said to have intervened in 2015 with a promise to complete the project in order to boost power supply to the industrial areas in the state, especially the Kakuri Industrial Area, where many textile factories are located.
On assumption of office, Governor Nasir el-Rufai was said to have taken up the matter, vowing to pursue the completion of the project, giving it a new deadline of the end of 2016.
Gov. El-Rufai said the state government was engaging the Federal Government to ensure that electric power supply from the Gurara Hydro and Kudenda Thermal Power projects were dedicated to the needs of the Kakuri and Kudenda industrial areas.
In his 2016 budget speech, Gov. El-Rufai said, “In cooperation with the Federal Government, we intend to work round the clock to get the Gurara and Kudenda electric power projects completed and put into use in 2016.”
However, Daily Trust gathered that the deadline for the plant was further extended to 2017, and that the initial take-off of the project suffered delay because of the inability to transport the imported equipment to the site from the Onne Port due to the poor state of the roads.
Findings have also revealed that the quantity of the LPFO produced at the Kaduna Refinery, which is supposed to be used to power the plant, was not sufficient as the plant required between 18 and 30 trucks of diesel daily in order to keep it running.
There was no sign of ongoing work at the project’s site when our correspondent recently visited the area, and attempts to speak with the site supervisors were not fruitful, as only security men were sited at the gate.
A resident of the area said it had been quite some time since he saw the gate open for workers, and that there was no indication that the pipelines had reached the site.
Sources in the Federal Ministry of Power informed Daily Trust that the initial deadline could not be met due to the non-availability of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to fuel the plant, and added that another major factor was funding.
Daily Trust also learnt that a senate committee had in 2017 demanded the suspension of the inauguration of the plant following a disagreement with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing over its plan to run the plant on diesel.
The senate committee was said to have established that the plant would be running at a loss if it went by that arrangement before the Federal Government signed the agreement for the supply of gas to the plant in 2019.
Consequently, there was a new projection that the plant would start working and supplying electricity to the national grid following the conclusion of arrangement for the supply of LPG to the facility.
Under the new arrangement, Daily Trust gathered that a firm, Greenville LNG, would supply gas to the plant, and that what was being expected now was the pipeline to connect gas to the power plant.
The Project Engineer from the Ministry of Power, Ekanem Effiong, told the senate committee that N386m was spent to procure two extra storage tanks outside the initial contract fund.
Engr. Effiong disclosed that the Power Control Module (PCM) which was hindering the plant from completion was being procured for €135.8m (about N49bn).
The ministry, in a procurement notice dated December 10, 2018, had shopped for suppliers to procure about 1.6 million litres of diesel with the N400m budgeted for the eight gas turbines at the plant.
At an average retail price of N200 per litre of diesel, the Federal Government would have spent N320m on the 1.6m litres of diesel for test-running the turbines.
Figures in the 2019 budget show that the Ministry of Power earmarked N400m for the purchase of diesel, in what it describes as “lube flushing” for the turbines and also to run two generators of 750KVA and 330KVA. With this in place, the turbines would have been tested on a hot and cold commissioning basis, the notice indicated.
The procurement began after the immediate former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, inspected the plant in November, 2018, and said it was over 80 per cent completed.
Mr. Fashola reportedly said four of the eight turbines had been completed and were ready to begin producing electricity to the national grid.
He was quoted to have said, “We have also tested four of the turbines preparatory for commissioning; so, there are essentially four turbines that are ready to go.”
However, in March, 2019, officials at the plant told reporters during another visit that corrections on the newly built transmission line and substation that would evacuate the power unto the national grid were pending.
The Site Manager of Rockson Engineering, Paul Adeyemo, said the plant had been configured to operate using both natural gas and diesel.
Adeyemo revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was planning a gas pipeline route tagged: “Abuja – Kaduna – Kano (AKK)”, which would pass near the plant.
He said, “What is left is to install the Power Control Module (PCM) which has placed the work percentage at 86 per cent completion level for the project; which comprises engineering, procurement and construction, and added that, “Each of the eight units generates up to 25MW of electricity.”
The Project Consultant for SEWA West Africa Limited, George Eno Tembe, said, “The plant has two switchyards to evacuate power to TCN substation to the national grid, and the other to the industrial areas in Kudenda and Kakuri.”
The new Minister of Power, Engr. Saleh Mamman, along with the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Goddy Agba, last week, shed light on the status of the project when they visited the site.
After the inspection, the minister said, “I am pleased to say that it is at 86 per cent completion and should be commissioned soon, and assured that, “President Muhammadu Buhari’s Next Level administration shall deliver uninterrupted power supply to Nigerians.”
We’re ready to evacuate generated power – TCN
The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr. Usman Gur Mohammed, told the Minister of Power that the transmission line to the plant was delayed for about seven years before the present management of TCN replaced the contractor.
Mr. Mohammed said, “All the processes have been completed now, and I can assure you that before the end of this year, we should finish the transmission line. If you look at the tower foundations, 90 per cent of them have been done. We are expecting the contractor to bring the conductors and string them.”
He also said the construction of the Kudenda Transmission Substation had reached advanced stage and would be ready before the power plant was energised.
Mohammed said, “It is in the interest of TCN that this power plant works because it provides voltage support to Kaduna and Kano, which is very critical to the stability of the grid.”
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