From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has said about N647.7 billion revenue would be raked in and 40 megawatts of electricity generated from the operation and management of two power generation plants in the country.
Packaged under a public private partnership arrangement, the two plants are the 360 megawatts (MW) Gurara II Multipurpose Dam and Hydro Power Plant in Kaduna State and the 40MW Kashimbilla Hydro Power Plant in Taraba State.
The two power plants with combined power generation capacity of 400MW has already secured the blessings of the Federal Executive Council.
The approval by the FEC followed the regulatory guidance submitted by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) for the infusion of private sector funds into the nation’s economic/infrastructure development.
Also, the FEC gave approval for the concession of a secure E-ticketing solutions for the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe rail services as well as the Device Management System, a project by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The ICRC said the concession arrangement would also help in the fight against crime, terrorism and insecurity while improving the effectiveness of the rail services in the specified routes.
The Gurara II HPP is a greenfield project that would be executed by Messrs. CGCOC Group Co. Limited through a Build, Operation, Maintenance and Transfer PPP model under an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for a concession period of 30 years.
The dam, hydropower plant, and other complementary infrastructure to be executed within a concession period of 30 years is expected to realise total revenue generation of $875million within the period.
The Commission said both the Gurara and the Kashimbilla HPP projects would bring about improved living conditions and employment, promotion of agriculture through irrigation, reduction of Greenhouse Gases as well as foreign exchange preservation.
For the Kashimbilla HPP, the executive council’s approval was for the operations and maintenance of the Hydropower Plant.
The Commission said one of the primary objectives of the dam was to mitigate the environmental disaster associated with the overflow of flood water in various downstream states of Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Delta, Cross River and Bayelsa, which potentially affect more than six million people in states across the region.
“The hydropower component of the Dam will also aid in ecological flood control, water supply for a population of about 400,000 people, irrigation potentials for about 3,000 hectares of arable land for farming as well as fishing to support food security,” the ICRC said.
Project cost put at about ₦7.68 billion approved for a concession period of 15 years would yield a total revenue of ₦ 85 billion.
The Device Management System which has the NCC as grantor, seeks to provide a single control point for comprehensive device management for mobile communication devices in Nigeria.
Specifically, the proposed DMS would support capabilities for tracking of mobile communication devices to eliminate fake and substandard devices, provide detailed statistical information for stakeholders use, and support the fight against cybercrime and insecurity.
The provision of the device adopts a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Maintain and Manage PPP model for a concession period of 10 years at a cost of $26 million, with the expected total revenue generation put at about ₦86.6 billion.
For the Lagos-Ibadan E-ticketing and the Warri-Itakpe concessions, the facility would adopt a Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Manage a Secure Ticketing Solution (Hardware and Software) for the Passengers’ Stations.
The solution seeks to ensure the provision of electronic tickets (e-tickets) and manual tickets, provision of adequate infrastructural security, deployment of adequate maintenance regime, provision of adequate training regime and provision of value-for-money throughout the life of the solution.
Also, the Lagos-Ibadan concession was approved at a cost of N1.1 billion, granted to Messers Global Software Digital Solutions Ltd (GSDS) and Datamataic Global Services Ltd (DGS) as technical partners, for a period of 10 years.
A total of ₦112.8 billion would be generated from the project, while the Warri-Itakpe counterpart would be executed at the cost of about N860.81 million, granted to Fane International Consult Limited and Artificial Intelligence Technologies Limited (AITL) as technical partner, also for a 10-year term. The expected revenue generation is estimated at ₦63.3 billion.