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AfDB lends $210mn for Nigerian grid
NIGERIA
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $210mn financing package for the Nigeria Transmission Expansion Project (NTEP1) to rehabilitate and upgrade the coun- try’s national grid and to improve distribution and supply.
e project will fund improvements in the states of Kano, Kaduna, Delta, Edo, Anam- bra, Imo, and Abia as part of the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN) $1.6bn Transmis- sion Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).
“Nigerians and their businesses spend $14bn annually on ine cient and expensive petrol or diesel-powered generators. is project will con- tribute signi cantly to the reduction of Nigeria’s power de cit, decrease air and noise pollution and reduce the cost of doing business,” Ebrima Faal, the bank’s senior director for Nigeria, said.
The bank’s financing comprises a $160mn loan and an additional $50mn loan from the Africa Growing Together Fund, and will support construction of 330kV double circuit quad trans- mission lines and substations across the country.
e project will upgrade 263 km of existing 330kV lines, while adding 204 km of new lines
to increase TCN’s wheeling capacity, stabilise the grid and reduce transmission losses.
e project will also reduce the use of small- scale diesel generators and therefore contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions by saving approximately 11.4mn tonnes per of year of CO2 equivalent.
Wale Shonibare, the Bank’s Acting Vice-Pres- ident for Power & Energy said implementation of the project would increase evacuation capacity from the south of the country towards the north, where power supply is limited.
“NTEP1 will increase the grid transmission stability and capacity, and reduce the amount of stranded power, whilst improving power export and regional power system integration to the West African Power pool, especially through Niger and Benin interconnections,” he said.
NTEP-1 is part of the Bank’s response to the power sector crisis in Nigeria and is aligned with the government’s strategic plans articulated in its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017- 2020) and Power Sector Recovery Programme.
e project also aligns with the Bank’s High 5 priority to ‘Light up and Power Africa” and the New Deal on Energy in Africa.™
GENERATION
Tanzanian gov’t to discuss PSA concerns with potential investors
TANZANIA
TANZANIA’S government intends to convene a roundtable meeting to address potential inves- tors’ concerns about the legal regime covering production-sharing agreements (PSAs) for crude oil and natural gas elds.
Simon Nkenyeli, a senior geologist for the East African state’s Petroleum Upstream Regu- latory Authority (PURA), unveiled the govern- ment’s plans last week, saying that the meeting would be held once Dar es Salaam had wrapped up its ongoing review of the PSA legal regime.
Once the review team reaches this stage, he said, its members will “table their ndings and inputs to allow the government to negotiate with relevant investors to mull over how to improve the investment environment.
Nkenyeli did not say exactly when Tanzanian authorities might complete this review, but he did stress that the process was designed to pro- tect the country’s ability to reap bene ts from its own natural resources.
“ e focus of the ongoing exercise is to stabi- lise Tanzania’s energy sector by ensuring [that]
the prestigious resource is extracted for the ben- e t of Tanzanians,” he told the Daily News on the sidelines of a conference in Dar es Salaam on the energy sector’s role in job creation and economic development.
e Tanzanian government is keen to foster domestic gas production in order to feed new gas-fired power plants and to stimulate eco- nomic growth.
He further noted that Tanzanian authorities had launched the review of the PSA legal regime after the adoption of new laws in 2017. He explained that he was referring to the National Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act and the National Wealth and Resources Contracts (Review and Re-negotiation of Unconscious Terms) Act, which President John Magufuli signed in July of that year.
“Since the enactment of the two regulations, most petroleum investors have been raising several concerns, complaining that the regu- lations are not friendly to their businesses,” he remarked. ™
Week 48 05•December•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7