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The federal government, through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), has announced Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) as the preferred bidder of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power plant in Niger state.
This was made known in a statement issued by BPE on Wednesday, May 17.
Mainstream Energy emerged as the preferred bidder to operate and manage the hydroelectric power station at $70 million a year for the next 30 years.
The statement partly reads, “The National Council on Privatization (NCP) has approved Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) as the preferred bidder for the concession of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power plant (ZHPP) for a fee of $70,000,000 per year for a period of 30 years.
“The Council, led by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, which gave the approval at its 2nd meeting for the year 2023, held on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja, directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to commence the negotiations and execution of the concession agreement with the preferred bidder.”
Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) is a privately held company that owns two hydropower plants — Jebba and Kainji — which currently generate about 20% of Nigeria’s power.
It is pertinent to note that the Kainji and Jebba hydropower plants have a combined installed generation capacity of 1,338.4 MW and were acquired through a concession agreement with the federal government in 2013.
MESL was incorporated in 2011 and is licensed as a power-generating company.
In November 2022.
After BPE opened a bid for the concession of the 700-megawatt Zungeru Hydroelectric power plant, MESL (the preferred bidder) scored 1142 marks (94.3 percent) of the total 1,200 marks, thus surpassing the minimum benchmark score of 75 percent of 1,200 marks, having offered the highest concession fee of $70,000,000 to beat Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited Consortium (APPNLC) which scored 742 points.
Zungeru is the biggest hydropower project under construction in Nigeria.
It is also one of the biggest power projects in Africa to avail preferential loan facility from the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of China.
The Zungeru hydropower project will provide power generation, flood protection, and water for irrigation.
The project also includes a roller-concrete compacted dam (90 meters in height and 1,090 meters in length), an intake tower and diversion tunnel, an underground powerhouse, a power transmission line, and an access road.
In addition, the 700-megawatt (MW) Zungeru hydropower plant is estimated to generate 2.64 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year, which will meet close to 10 percent of Nigeria’s total domestic energy needs.
Source: TheStreetJournal | Read More
