The Minister of Power Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) has disclosed that about 340 Mega watts of electricity will be generated and added to the National grid for onward distribution to consumers before the end of December, 2017. The Minister gave the hint on Thursday in Rivers State during an inspection tour of Afam Power Plant.
The Minister who lamented that the Power plant was generating below capacity stated that the visit was part of the administration's Power Sector Recovery Programme. He explained that the Programme is aimed at revamping all existing power plants in the country with the sole purpose of improving power supply to Nigerians.
Addressing media men during the tour , Fashola stated that “Afam 1 to 5 power plants are currently producing about 100 megawatts which is as a result of failure to maintain the facility over the years. “We are here to assess the progress of the work we have been doing in the last 17 to 18 months aimed to get the facility back to its optimum capacity."
“The Afam 5 plant is currently being rehabilitated in collaboration with General Electric to restore 240 megawatts to the facility. All the turbines and equipment needed for the project are already in the country while the only challenge we are facing is the access road, logistic and few other things that we came to assess."
He expressed optimism that the ministry will “add 240 megawatts and another 100 megawatts before December with addition of 276 megawatts in 2018 from Afam power plant alone.”
