Fashola Commissions Alausa Power Plant. 360km Street to be lit
Busolami Idowu
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has commissioned the 10.4MW Alausa Independent Power Project, IPP, built at a cost of N3.2 billion. The project will boost electricity supply at the Lagos State Secretariat in Ikeja.
Commissioning the IPP at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Fashola said the solution to unemployment and job creation lies in made in Nigeria products, saying that the Alausa IPP was made in Nigeria and delivered by Nigerians.
Fashola said the IPP project was the brain work of the Public-Private Partnership, PPP, saying the PPP had been working for the state government.
According to the Governor the delivery of the IPP will put an end to usage of over 130 generators being used at the State Government Secretariat. He said that the capacity of these generators ranged from 30KVA to 50 KVA.
“These generators are not what they call ‘I better pass my neighbour’. Some of the smallest one there are 30 KVA generators. The aggregate of that power is 30 Megawatt of efficient power, lost power, lost time, lost accountability, transport cost, diesel supply and all of that from today are now history”.
“Here we are but this is not our destination, two more IPP will come and we will continue to focus on public power supply, street lighting, public building schools hospital and so and so forth and some of the religious institutions as you will see in the course of time,” he said.
The two IPPs, according to Fashola, would be located in Lekki and the Ikeja GRA which would be completed next year, adding that people living on the Island, Shomolu and others where IPP had been situated were enjoying the benefits of the projects.
The governor stressed the need for people to key into the conservation of facilities in order to save more money, lamenting that lots of money was being lost due to non-conservation of utilities.
He disclosed that audit carried out on household usage of power supply showed that residents in Magodo spent around N8 million per day in buying diesel for their generators while residents in Lekki spent around N12 million per day in buying diesel.
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Oando Oil, Mr Wale Tinubu in his speech said the new Alausa Power Plant will provide 10.6 Megawatts of electricity to the State Secretariat and will be powered through an environmental friendly Lagos pipeline.
Mr Tinubu said Oando will continue to partner Lagos in the extension of the gas pipeline from Ijora across the river to Lagos Island to Victoria Island and Lekki, adding that efforts are also on to provide additional power to the State Water Corporation.
With Alausa IPP, the Alausa Secretariat, LASUTH campus and Awolowo Road Street light would also be powered by the power plant thus enhancing the security of the citizens at night.
The General Manager of the State Electricity Board, Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi during her speech said that by the end october, Lagos state will have about 360 kilometres of fully lit public highways with 68 percent of such street lights being powered by diesel
The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Reginald Ihejiahi commended the Fashola led administration saying the Alausa Power Project is the third to be financed by Fidelity Bank in Lagos.
He said the Power project which will supply power to 62 buildings and 160 departments will make the state more efficient.
