Engr. Chidi Izuwah, the Director-General, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) on Monday, commended the Federal Government’s approach towards addressing the infrastructure gaps in the power sector.

Izuwah who spoke to newsmen in Dadin-Kowa community said the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project idea of the Federal Government to develop infrastructure in the dam had yielded the needed result.

According to him, the same model was used for the three major dams in the country which are now regarded as the main achievements in power sector reforms.

He stated that the challenges in the power sector as well as other sectors needed such initiative if the country must make progress in terms of infrastructural development; stressing that government alone cannot address the infrastructural deficits in the power sector and other sectors.

“The Dadin-Kowa Dam project has faced challenges in the past but the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has leveraged the PPP initiative to address. I can tell you with what I have seen, I am extremely joyful.

“I am very proud that this hydro power plant has been completed after several years. This is additional improvement in the infrastructural revolution in the power sector.

“ If you look at our power sector, the three major hydro power plants, Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro were concessioned and those are the most successful aspects of the power reforms.

“Only last week, the contract for the refurbishment of a major turbine in Jebba was signed by mainstream that’s what the FG is doing to improve infrastructure deficit in the power sector.’’

Izuwah added that the Dadin-Kowa hydro-power dam would impact positively on the economy of the North-east in terms of industrialization while creating jobs for the people of the sub-region.
He stated that part of the assessment visit was to initiate ways of bringing all stakeholders in the power sector together to ensure that the hydro-power dam was connected to the national grid for use.

“We need power and here we have stranded power, so part of my visit is to see how to get all the stakeholders together to ensure that this stranded power is connected to the national grid. No available megawatts shouldn’t go into the national grid to improve the lives of Nigerians; so we have started making the necessary contacts in that regard,’’ he stressed.

Our correspondent reports that Mr Christopher Cyril, the Managing Director of Mabon Energy Limited, the company handling the project commended the ICRC’s role towards ensuring the completion of the project while soliciting more support towards ensuring that the dam is put to use as soon as possible.

https://www.ournigeria.news/how-fg-is-addressing-infrastructure-deficit-in-power-sector-icrc-boss/