The Federal Ministry of Water Resources says it is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Power and a private firm, Transmitto, to evacuate power from hydro-power stations at Kashimbilla dam and others.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is also part of the collaboration aimed at ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply in the country.
Mr Regy Ikpeawujo, the Deputy Director, Dams and Reservoirs Operations in the water resources ministry, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Takum, Taraba on Monday.
NAN reports that the construction work of the 15-metre deep pit meant for power generation at the Kashimbilla dam has been completed and evacuation of power will begin soon through the collaboration.
He said the collaboration was necessary because of the problem encountered at the Gurara dam where 30 MW of hydro-power was generated but not evacuated due to inadequate capacity arising from the absence of such collaborations.
Ikpeawujo gave the assurance that with such cooperation, the 30 mw of hydro-power generated would be transmitted to Kaduna State and its environs.
“We? have just started collaboration; it has to do with the power that is generated from the hydropower stations; we had some problems with Gurara where we are generating 30 mw of hydro power and till now we can’t evacuate because we were not collaborating; but now we have started collaborating starting from the scratch.
“In Kashimbilla dam, we have a committee comprising Ministry of Power, Water Resources and the transmission company – TCN. They have done their studies on how to evacuate the power that’s going to be generated so that there will be no delay.
“It’s a step in right direction; we are cooperating well now.”
On his part, Mr Ali Abubakar, the Chief Electrical Engineer in the power ministry, said the collaboration between the two ministries was important because of the hydropower component of the dams.
According to Abubakar, when the Kashimbilla dam project was awarded it was to generate 6 mega watts but due to the Transformation agenda of the present administration it was reviewed from 6 to 40 mega watts.
He said the review was done to improve the power supply of the dam and economic activities of the area.
“The power component was reviewed from 6 mw to 40 mw so that the power in this area would have a boost, improve the economic activity, create jobs for the youth.
“By the time the irrigation facility is on, with the presence of power there will be small cottage industries; all the things produced could be reserved; I think the government is on course to review this power component.
“That shows this administration has the common man at heart – to make sure these people are empowered because as long as there is power people will get jobs and individually create small things to do for themselves.”
He commended the contractors working on the Kashimbilla Dam on the level of work done and appreciated the speed with which the job was being carried out.
?“There is a lot of progress on the job because we have site meetings every month, in civil work; there is appreciable progress; we really appreciate the way the contractor is working.”
Commenting on Gurara dam, the chief electrical engineer said the 30 mw generated by the water ministry, was already being evacuated as provided for in the 2012 budget of the ministry of power.
He added that the cooperation would see the partners generating power from the small earth dams spread all over the country.
According to him, feasibility studies have so far been done on 12 of the dams.
Abubakar said that the power that would be generated would attract investors from all over the world to Nigeria.
He told NAN that a 10 mw wind farm constructed in Katsina State was near completion.
The wind farm is expected to convert wind to electricity when completed.
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