Abia State Governor, Alex Otti says his administration is set to buy over the Umuahia ringed fence of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, in order to provide steady power for the rest of the 8 LGAs not covered by the Geometric Power.
He stated this on Monday at a reception organized by the management of Geometric Power after the commissioning and tour of Aba Power’s new 2 X 15 MVA, Ogbor Hill Sub-station, which was performed by former President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Governor Otti, who directed the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities to hold discussions with the management of the Geometric Power over wheeling of its excess power to the Umuahia ringed fence, said all the due diligence and evaluations have been done.
He said that the offer would be made Tuesday, today.
“Ordinarily, what would happen is for that excess power to be injected into the national grid, but then, with the deregulation, our discussion with Geometric Power is around wheeling that 80 or 88 megawatts or any excess power into Umuahia ring-fence. So, once we are in control, that excess power will go to Umuahia,”; Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor, while appreciating former President Obasanjo for some courageous actions he took as President, including isolating Aba as a ringed-fence far before now that the federal government has granted states authority to regulate electric power, also, thanked Professor Nnaji for investing in Abia.
Chief Obasanjo, who saluted the leadership style of Governor Alex Otti in Abia State, described Aba as the centre of industrialization, which deserves steady power and congratulated Governor Otti, Prof. Nnaji and the entire Abia people on the success of the project so far.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman and CEO of Geometric Power Group, Professor Bart Nnaji, while giving an overview of the vision of Aba Integrated Power Project, lauded former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Otti for their roles which were instrumental to the realization of the project, which he said has cost more than 800 million Dollars.
