David Iyofor, a senior special assistant to Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Media and Publicity, informed that the project would power around 350 communities across the state. The second Eleme Gas turbine is expected to be commenced by 2010.
Iyofor stated that “a lot of the communities are rural and have not been connected to the national grid. The 391 power projects will include installation of high tension, low tension, sub-stations and extensions in these communities. Presently, we are about completing a 100 megawatts and a 75 megawatts power projects that were started by a previous administration.
Iyofo, said: our target is to have a total of 255 megawatts of power by next year. If you add that to the 300 megawatts that we would be building for the new city, we would have roughly 600 megawatts of power. That would make Rivers State very self-sufficient with power, if you consider that Port Harcourt presently needs between 350 to 400 megawatts of power.
“The power projects have been advertised for bidding and the bidding process completed. It has gone to the Due Process Bureau for due diligence. Once it goes through Due Process which will be very soon, we will be electrifying all communities in the state. We are talking with the Federal Government on how we can handle distribution of power generated from our IPP. Already, this administration is building seven power sub-stations all over the state.”
Rivers State owns a transmission line from Omoku to Port Harcourt, Iyofor added.
