….endorses merger of Egbin Power, KEPCO Plant
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has approved Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL) as the preferred bidder for the concession of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power plant (ZHPP) for a yearly fee of $70,000.251 over the next 30 years.
The Council, which gave the approval at its 2nd meeting for the year 2023, held on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to commence the negotiations and execution of the concession agreement with the preferred bidder.
The details of the bidding process provided by the BPE on Wednesday through a statement issued by the Head, Corporate Communications Department, Uzoma Ibeh, indicated that the preferred bidder) scored 1,142 marks (94.3%) of the total 1,200 marks, thereby surpassing the minimum benchmark score of 75% of 1,200 marks, having offered the highest concession fee of $70,000.25 to beat Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited Consortium (APPNLC), which scored 742 points.
It would be recalled that the NCP at its 7th meeting held on December 21, 2020 approved the concession of the ZHPP, consequent which the Federal Ministry of Power (FMOP) donated an irrevocable Power of Attorney to the BPE on June 30, 2021 for the implementations of the NCP’s decision.
Based on this, the BPE published the Requests for Qualifications (RfQ) for the concession of the power plant in three national newspapers on October 27, 2022 which at the close of the deadline, 11 firms submitted bids.
Three of the companies, namely Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited Consortium (APPNLC), Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL and North-South Power Consortium (NSP), were subsequently prequalified for the concession of the
This is even as the BPE’s spokesperson confirmed that the NCP also approved A scheme of External Restructuring proposed by KEPCO Energy Resources Nigeria Limited (KERNL), the core Investor in Egbin Power Plant.
Ibeh stated that the approval was granted to enable the entity to boost its capacity to raise the required capital to double the existing capacity of the plant to 2640MW.
