ABUJA – The Federal Government on Wednesday directed the federal ministries of power, transport and the contractors handling the Kaduna thermal power plant to complete the project by December.
This is contained in a statement in Abuja by Vice President Namadi Sambo’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Malam Umar Sani.
It said that Sambo gave the directive at a meeting on the Kaduna 215 mega watts power plant with the contractors, project consortium, consultants and officials of the two ministries.
The statement reported that the vice president, who requested for a detailed programme of work for the project, said it was to ensure the project’s inauguration on schedule.
It said Sambo frowned at requests made by the consortium for variation of optional items outside the scope of work and urged the Ministry of Power to conclude the arrangement for the fuel storage tank for the plant.
‘‘The vice president directed Rockson Engineering, one of the companies in the consortium, to provide their records of procurements for the balance of plant (BoP) and schedule of deliveries and commence without delay, the civil works and construction for the storage tank.
‘‘He called for a schedule of completion of alignment of the turbines from General Electric (GE),’’ the statement said.
It said Sambo expressed satisfaction with the report presented by the Minister of Transport on the construction of railway tracks that would connect the rail with the power plant.
‘‘He also noted the challenges faced by the consortium at the site and directed them to sort out all issues and report back within two weeks.
‘‘Those issues were on the eight turbines alignment, storage tank, electrical control system which was one of the major engineering issues, project delivery and additional works,’’ the statement said.
The consultant to the project, Messrs Stiag Ecotec West Africa, while presenting its report, noted that Skipper, the contractor to the substation, had progressed well and that work was currently at 82 percent completion.
It also said that the main scope of work was progressing within acceptable time limits but the contract variation within the 33 KV injection substation and the outgoing feeders had been evaluated and recommendations forwarded to the Ministry of Power.
It also noted that the project provided for the change in scope from the brown field site to the current green field location.
The statement reported the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, as saying that the construction of rail tracks to the project site was an addendum to the western line rehabilitation.
He said that the length of the works was 3.8 kilometres while the completion design had been completed and submitted for approval.
The minister added that the contractor for the project had since mobilised to site and pledged to complete the work within eight months.
He promised to be in Kaduna for the ground-breaking ceremony of the project in the next three weeks. (NAN)
