AdminGeometric Power, the parent company of Aba Power, on Wednesday flagged off the construction of a special line for industries along the Port Harcourt Expressway in the Aba ring-fenced area (REA) of Abia State.
The integrated power firm which covers nine of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in Abia State embarked on the project to further boost industrial said business activities in the state.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelChairman of the company, Professor Bart Nnaji, who performed the flag off in Umuarakpa community, Osisioma LGA of the State, said the N1.8 billion project is scheduled to be completed within three months.
He said the project when completed, will ensure steady supply of quality electricity to power machineries used in industries in the area.
“The completion of the dedicated Double-circuit 33KV commercial line to industrial clusters in this zone will mean not just 24-hour power supply to the industries here but also high-quality power availability that can carry big machines and equipment,” Professor Nnaji, a former Minister of Power declared.
“This line will radiate electricity directly from the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant in the Osisioma Industrial Layout in the heart of Aba City to the industrial clusters in Ukwa which shares boundary with Rivers State.”
The big companies in the area include Oilserv, Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil and gas pipeline construction and servicing firm which is handling the $2.8 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline project that will enter the Niger Republic and end up in Algeria or Morocco from where it will supply natural gas to Europe.
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Others include the Nigerian-British University and the Blue World Pharmaceutical, Foods and Cosmetics Company, which plans to start manufacturing drugs in accordance with World Health Organisation (WHO) specifications, thus enabling Nigeria to start exporting pharmaceutical products on an industrial scale like India.
Speaking on power supply in the area, chairman of Blue World Pharmaceutical, Foods and Cosmetic Company, Lawrence Umeh-Udeh, said though there has been electricity supply to the Ukwa area for years, “it has been shared with the host community, making supplies irregular and not of international standards. According to him, the problem will now be resolved in the next 90 days when the new line is installed “specifically for industries which are growing rapidly in the Aba Ring-fence Area as a result of growing constant power supply since last December 17”.
Supporting the statement by Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu that 60% of Nigerian manufacturers rely on electricity self-generation owing to poor supplies from electricity distribution companies (DisCos), Aba Power Managing Director Ugo Opiegbe disclosed at the flag off ceremony that big multinational corporations like PZ are “returning to our own DisCo, which is Nigeria’s newest DisCo and the country’s 12th because of constant, reliable and affordable supplies since the resolution of the gas supply challenge last December.”
He also revealed that Neimeth Pharmaceuticals based in Ikeja, Lagos, is building a manufacturing plant in Aba due to improved electricity, “to say nothing about the forthcoming Enyimba Economic City that will change the landscape of the Southeast and South-South because of power availability”.
Opiegbe disclosed that Geometric Power is “constructing three dedicated commercial lines for industries in the Owerrinta, Ogbor Hill and Factory Road industrial clusters, complete with substations.
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“They will be commissioned in less than 90 days, enhancing our power output by as much as 60MW, which is more than half of what the Aba Ring-fenced Area currently consumes”.
He expressed optimism that big multinationals like the Nigerian Breweries plc, with a manufacturing facility in the Factory Road Industrial Layout, “will benefit from the ongoing electric power revolution in Abia State.”
The 42-kilometre New Ukwa Line costing N1.8bn is financed by the Divine Point Group under a vendor-financed option.
Tony Alozie, Geometric Power’s Chief Finance Officer, a former executive with Halliburton of the United States, described it as a “mark of stupendous stakeholder confidence in the Geometric Power Group.
