The new 260MW power plant deal brings on board the International Fi­nance Corporation (IFC) – a subsidiary of World Bank as the financier. Other financiers are Wartsila-Development and Finland-based Financial Services Company. The deal was arranged by Lafarge Nigeria Limited.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan’s commitment to having “nothing derail the power sector reform” has, according to the Minister, helped in execution of the deal.

 

The minister also called for genuine investors to take advantage of the current Nigeria’s conducive environ­ment in terms of legislative framework, market depth and political will to invest in the country, because it assured them of high returns on their investment. He added that the president had urged all minister to attract foreign investors.

 

According to Lafarge CEO, for Nigeria and Benin, Guillaume Roux, the new 260MW power plant proj­ect would be realized in record time. He added that World Bank has supported Nigerian’s power sector privatization exercise that is still ongoing. The CEO said Lafarge group would support the sector by leveraging all resources needed.

 

Lafarge has been in the forefront calling for additional power generation, and has announced a commitment to release additional power from its cement plant to the national grid. On comple­tion, the plant will help increase the nation’s power generation capacity, which forms a substantial leap for supply value chain in Nigeria. As per the joint agreement, the 260MW power plant is expected to produce at least 220MW which will be channeled to the na­tional grid.

 

Source : www.constructionreviewonline.com