From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Federal Government has asked the 16 firms that recently scaled the pre-qualification hurdle for the privatisation of five National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) in Nigeria not to panic over reports that some of the plants have litigation issues, describing such legal matters as baseless and frivolous.
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, gave the assurance at the Investor Pre-bid Conference for the privatisation of the five NIPP plants namely: Geregu, Omotosho, Olorunsogo, Calabar and Benin-Ihovbor which held in Abuja earlier in the week.
According to him, the Bureau and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) were empowered by the bids’ provisions under NIPPs transaction to terminate bids that violated the ground rules.
He listed the 16 pre-qualified bidders as: Mota-Engil Nig, Amperion Power, Sifax Energy, Pacific Energy Company Ltd and Globeleq Africa Limited.
The others are: Geoplex Drillteq Limited, Asfalizo Acquisition Ltd, Launderhill PJB, Lauderhill Tata, Unicorn Power Genco Ltd, Connaught Energy Services Ltd, ENL Consortium Ltd, Ardova Plc, Central Electric and Utilities Ltd, North South Power Consortium and Quantum Megawatt Consortium.
Earlier, Okoh noted that the power sector remains a viable investment in the country given the low per-capita Megawatts recording Nigeria.
He added that the interest shown by bidders and the opening up of the generation aspect of the power sector confirmed the vast opportunities abound in the sector and that the Bureau and other relevant stakeholders were committed to making the sector very sustainable.
Okoh revealed that the objectives of the pre-bid conference were to address possible questions from the prequalified bidders with regards to the transactions and provide clarity on some issues in the Transaction Documents as may be necessary.
He also said that the forum would also highlight the potentials in the Nigerian power sector and provide a platform for potential investors to understand the process for the privatisation of the NIPP power plants as well as to enable them adequately to prepare their bid documents.
Further, Okoh said: “this event is a continuation of the Federal Government’s reform of the power sector with the aim of ensuring that assets within the sector are fully utilized and transformed into world class facilities, through the injection of private sector capital and deployment of more efficient and technical capacity”.