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ALSCON to resume production this year, says BPE

By Mathias Okwe, Abuja
08 June 2018   |   4:12 am
The multi-million naira Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, which privatisation since 2004 has been mired in controversy...

Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Alex A. Okoh

• Lists Afam Power Plant, Yola Disco for re-privatisation, others for concession
• ‘NIPOST, River Basins, parks, others for commercialisation’ 

The multi-million naira Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, which privatisation since 2004 has been mired in controversy, is finally to resume production before the end of 2018, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said.

Meanwhile, the new core investor, UC Rusal of Russia, has undertaken and submitted to the BPE a technical audit of the plant and has confirmed that it will be able to flush the plant and commence commercial production before December this year.

The Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Alex A. Okoh, who gave the assurance yesterday at a briefing in Abuja on the agency’s work plan for 2018 and its activities in the last 30 years of its establishment, said the positive development in the resumption of production would greatly assist the country cut down on her aluminium products import bills as well as create value in terms of employment generation and wealth creation opportunities.

Okoh said arrangement had been concluded to undertake the privatisation and commercialisation of some state-owned enterprises, including the Afam Power Plant, concessioning of Terminal “B” Warri Old Port, restructuring and recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), partial commercialisation of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) and the restructuring/commercialisation of six River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs).

The others, according to him, include partial commercialisation of three selected national parks, re-privatisation of Yola Disco, power sector recovery initiative and development of data management framework for the power sector.

Okoh, therefore, advised the Federal Government to reduce propensity of loans accretion because of their high cost and rather dispose of the many obsolete assets to raise money for the funding of the yearly budgets.

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