TCN needs $7.5b for expansion plan, targets 10,000MWs

About $7.5 billion is required by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for its five-year expansion plan targeted at hitting 10,000 Mega Watts (MW) in 2019. To achieve this target, the company has planned 56 projects.

Meanwhile, following the exit of Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) from Nigeria, government is expected to save $23 million for three years.

The Federal Government paid $34 million to the MHI for managing the TCN.

The Managing Director of TCN, Dr. Atiku Abubakar, who revealed this yesterday in Abuja, said that the company expects that the Federal Government as the sole owner of the company would empower and facilitate funding of the projects.

He explained that TCN is supported through funding agencies such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), World Bank and special funds from Eurobond, China Exim Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), adding that extended funding requirements from these agencies in form of concessionary loans and grants are put at $3.4 billion.

“The Federal Government is expected to provide about $1.5 billion for the five years period, while the proposed investors contracting financing initiative of TCN is expected to contribute $2.6 billion. This is a total estimated requirement of $7.5billion for the five year expansion plan.”

The MD who accused some electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) of rejecting load allocation for onward distribution to their customers said, “On a final note, let me assure the DisCos and GenCos and all Nigerians that TCN is determined to improve its services so that it does not appear as the weakest link in the power sector value chain.

“At this moment, the weakest link is truly identified, some distribution companies rejecting customers loads, thereby throwing them in darkness, resulting in lowering of generation, although we have the capacity to generate more.”

Abubakar, who declined to mention the distribution companies in question, pointed out that there is enough capacity to transfer the power to the companies.

He said: “I will say yes it is still happening. I don’t want to mention the distribution companies that are guilty but they know themselves. Most of them are load shedding 11Kv feeder for two, three hours simply because they cannot pay to the market operator or to the system the invoice that is given to them. So they use that method to deny customers power. But I want to make it clear that we know because the system operator monitors on 24 hours basis.”
He also disclosed that the World Bank would withdraw its loan to the TCN owing to the exit of the management contractors, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI).

TCN which had never been audited externally since its inception in 2006 is already being audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Abubakar noted that the company which requested N50 billion in its 2016 budget got approval for N30 billion from which only N9 billion has been received.