The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved $1.9 billion for the procurement of equipment for the power sector to boost power supply in the country.Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.“Ladies and gentlemen, today the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, presented two joint memos regarding the Presidential Power Initiative.“The first memo that we presented to council was seeking Council’s approval for the engagement of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as transaction advisors with third party consultants for the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (phase one). So, the AFC, the transaction advisors, their fee is $800,000 US dollars and the transaction period is 18 months and this includes their reimbursable expenses.“The second component is the engagement of third party consultants and this includes local as well as international legal advisory firms, environmental and social impact assessment consultants, security consultants, insurance advisors, as well as tax and model auditor.“These parties are collectively engaged in the sum of $1,116,312.45 US dollars. The objective of the PPI project is to modernize and upgrade power transmission and distribution infrastructure in Nigeria,” he said.The minister said part of the money would be used for the procurement of mobile equipment for the transmission of power across the country.“The second approval that we got from Council today is still relating to the PPI power project and the memo was seeking the approval of Council for the award of contracts for the procurement of mobile equipment for the transmission power component of the project. So, the procurement of 10 mobile equipment and 10 transformers was approved.“The total cost of the procurement is in the sum of 62,949,447 euros with a delivery period of 12 to 18 months, depending on how we’re able to push because this equipment will be manufactured specifically for us. The focus is to be able to very quickly enhance the power availability and capacity in the country.“With this particular approval, we’ll be able to expand from the current capacity of 5000 megawatts to 7000 megawatts,” she said.
