By Tola Gbadamosi

|

The Minister of Power,  Abubakar Aliyu has commended  Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, for his administration’s support towards the completion of the330 kilovolts Akure transmission substation.

The Minister gave the commendation during an inspection tour of the project which was at the last stage of commissioning in Akure at the weekend.

Represented by the Executive Director of Transmission Service Provider,  Victor Adewumi, he solicited  more partnership aimed at ensuring that people of the state enjoys uninterrupted power supply.

According to him, “this is one of the projects the Minister has transferred as a priority project that would be commissioned before end of this year. It is ready and we want to assure you, that in five months, we would commission this station.

“I want to specifically express gratitude to the Akeredolu-led administration over its huge efforts which has fast-tracked the timely completion of this project.

“The Ondo state government has been assisting us through the office of the Commissioner for Energy, Mines and Mineral Resources, Mr Razak Obe who has been helping us in solving the most critical problems we have been facing”, he said.

He added, that he  has directed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), to accelerate the energising of the Akure Mega substation with two 150MVA and two of 60MVA transformers for commissioning in five months.

“When this station is completed, it has capacity for 96 magnitudes to deliver power to the good people of Ondo and Ekiti states.

“If you look around, you would see that the substation has been ready for the past two years, but unfortunately, we could not energize the substation line because the transmission line that is supposed to power the substation from Osogbo to Benin City is not yet ready.

Aliyu said the commissioning was hindered by Right of Way issues for the 330kv transmission line construction project from Osogbo in Osun State and another line from Benin in Edo.

“What we are trying to do now is to redesign the existing line from Benin to Osogbo and will bring that line and turn it in and out. We believe that in five months, that line would be ready to power this station and be commissioned,” he assured.

“We have been having a lot of issues on the Ondo conductor line, the issue of the Rights of Way, is one singular factor against all TCN projects in this country.

“Nobody wants to give their land out for use at any time, when they agree, they demand huge amount of money, sometimes five times the cost of the entire project.

He expressed, that the state government has been involved in critical part of the Right of Way issue which is at Ilara-Mokin area of the state.

“The connection of power from Osogbo will improve power and energize it to the 330KV, which would facilitate supply to Ondo state and Ekiti directly.

“When this is achieved, the problem of epileptic power supply for both states will be addressed.

“We want to appreciate the three state Governors of Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, for their support and I seek their continued partnership, so that we can give the good people of the states stable power supply, he said”.

The General Manager, Engineering, at the TCN, Shehu Aliyu, assured that the new substation would address epileptic power in Ekiti and improve supply in Ondo State.