Sambo tasks contractor to complete Kudandan Power Plant on time

• As residents express dismay over power outage

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Vice President, Architect Mohammed Namadi Sambo has challenged handlers the Kudandan Power Plant to complete the contract on time and ensure that the standards and instruments used for the projects met international requirement.

He stated this while carrying out an on-the-spot-assessment project in Kaduna on Monday.

According to the V-P, the Kudandan Power Plant is one of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which is expected to generate 275 megawatts into the National Grid and will serve as a life-line to restore the comatose industry in the state.

Arc. Namadi Sambo added that the provision of uninterrupted power supply is a major project in the President Goodluck Jonathan Transformation Agenda and that hopefully, Nigeria will soon experience uninterrupted power supply.

In his own remarks, the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo commended the contractor for keeping to the contract standard and added that the contract is 70 percent completed and that he has been assured by the contractor that the contract will be delivered on the agreed date.

Meanwhile, electricity consumers in Kaduna state has expressed dismay over the power outage that has bedeviled them for the past 4 weeks, which has almost grounded economy activities in the state.

Investigation by this reporter revealed that some parts of the metropolis and environs have been thrown into perpetual darkness.

Area affected by this power outrage includes Malali, Kawo, Hayin-Banki, Unguwar Dosa, Barnawa, Sabon-Tasha, Television village and Mando.

A resident, Malam Usman Umar, who is a welder, said the power shortage has affected his business because, according to him, he has a lot of job on hold but that he cannot execute them because of the epileptic nature of power presently.

Similar, Madam Vivian Joseph, who runs a cold store in Malali, said she has to sell her frozen chicken at giveaway prices because of the power outage. She called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, address the power problem in the metropolis, in order for people like her to continue and stay in business.

A source close to the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), who would not want his name on print attributes the power outage to a recent windstorm that affected distribution line. According to him, engineers from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) are working round the clock to restore full power supply.