Mambilla Power Plant To Proceed After Settlement Of Legal Dispute

After resolving an International arbitration in Paris initiated by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company, the Minster of Power, Saleh Mamman  says  Nigeria is ready to build a second-largest hydroelectric plant in Africa

Mamman said this during an interview in Abuja adding that the government has settled a legal dispute with the transmission company that once held the construction contract of the Mambila power station.

Sunrise had accused the Nigerian government of breaching its 2003 agreement when it granted a separate contract to Chinese companies four years after they were contracted for the plant construction.

The transmission company requested an arbitration award of $2.3 billion which then caused the Export-Import Bank of China to pause its interest in financing the Mambilla plant.

But the minister said a group including China Energy Engineering Corp. and Sinohydro Corp. Ltd will start construction of the Mambilla facility, which is forecast to cost $4.8 billion in 2020.

The Mambilla Power Station has the capacity to produce 3,050 megawatts which is equivalent to a quarter of Nigeria’s current installed capacity.

Currently, Nigeria has 13,000 megawatts of installed electricity-production capacity, about 80% of which comes from gas-fired plants.However, only 7,500 megawatts is available while about 4,000 megawatts is dispatched to the grid each day.

Meanwhile, Mamman blamed the distribution companies in the country for poor electricity supply to consumers saying they lacked the capacity to meet requirements.