The Federal
Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the award of more than
N90.7 billion contract for strategic gas supply to various power
generation plants in the country.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku disclosed this after the Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Maku said
the contract was approved by Council to address power outages in the
country which had been largely attributed to gas shortage. ``Inadequate
gas supply has been one of the reasons for recent downturn in power
generation.
The Ministry
of Petroleum Resources and the Ministry of Power have been working on
this for a while. Today the Ministry of Petroleum Resources brought a
memo to Council seeking for the immediate construction of the strategic
gas pipeline from Obiaku/Obrikom in River State to Oben in Edo State.
``This
strategic gas supply project will facilitate the harnessing of gas and
gas supply to major power projects located, particularly in southern
part of the country.
``The
strategic project which Council today approved will also ensure the
sufficiency of gas to factories in Lagos, particularly the power
projects and all the gas fired power plants located in this part of the
country.’’
The minister
said Lot 1 of the contract was awarded to Nestoil Nigeria Ltd. at the
cost of N19.25 billion with addition of 1920-million-dollar component.
Lot 2 of the contract, according to the Maku, was awarded to Oil Serve
Nigeria Ltd. in the sum N29.52 billion with an 83.92-million-dollar
component.
Maku said
the Council directed that the execution of the contract should be
expedited and delivered in 24 months. In a related development, FEC also
ratified contract of N2.942 billion for the development of the National
College of Petroleum Studies in Kaduna.
The
institution was established to train middle level officers and some key
management staff in the petroleum industry. Maku said contracts was
approved for the construction of classrooms, hostels, workshops and
other basic facilities in the school with completion period of 30 weeks
to 52 weeks.
The minister
stated that FEC also approved contract for the establishment of
Information Communication Technology centres in educational institutions
across the country. He said the contract in the sum of over N9.8
billion was approved under the portfolio of the Petroleum Technology
Development Fund.
Maku said
that the institutions to benefit from the project were picked from a
list given to PTDF by the Federal Ministry of Education. The minister
said Council also approved the award of a N267-million contract for
consultancy services for the development of a 25-year national ports
master plan. He said Council approval was sequel to a memo presented by
the Ministry of Transport and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Minister of
Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, explained that the master plan was
imperative for the nation to cope with the emerging international trends
and the effects of globalisation on the maritime industry. ``The ports
master plan will be for 25 years and will form the basis for strategic
policies in effective utilisation of resources and effective service
delivery,’’ Umar said.
He said the consultancy project would be carried out along with core employees of the Ministry.
