By Sanni Onogu, Abuja

The Ministry of Power yesterday explained that the government decided to scale down the capacity of the Mambilla hydro power project from 3,050 to 1,500 megawatts to enhance the viability of the project.

Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, who appeared before members of the Senate Committee on Power in Abuja, said while the $5.8 billion power plant in Taraba State was designed to generate 3,050 megawatts of electricity, the capacity of the power project was rescoped to 1,500 megawatts to make it bankable and acceptable to lenders.

In 2017, the Federal Government approved the construction of the project by a Chinese firm. China’s Export-Import Bank was expected to provide 85 per cent of the funding while the Federal Government will contribute 15 per cent for the joint venture.

“We discovered that the 3,050 megawatts is not viable. We have sent officials to China to review the project and the memo is on the table of Mr President waiting for approval.

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“The idea of rescoping the project is to make it bankable. The market that we are operating today in Nigeria is different from the market that was operated when the Mambilla project was conceived.

“Today we need a project that can be paid for in the market. We are funding the project with loan from a lender who is only interested in funding a project that can pay back the loan.

“Most of the issues around the Mambilla power plant are on bankability of the project. What we did was to redesign the project to be bankable and acceptable to the lenders,” Saleh said.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Gabriel Suswam, said the minister must account for the N812 million the federal government paid to the Taraba State government for surveying and demarcation of land where the project would be sited.

Senator Yusuf Yusuf had expressed concern that paying the money to the state government would make it impossible for the Senate panel to oversee how the money is spent.

“We can’t appropriate money for land survey and demarcation for Mambilla power project and the money is given to Taraba State Government to engage land surveyors. This will make it difficult for the Senate to oversight the usage of the money,” Yusuf said.

Saleh however explained that the money was paid to the Taraba State Government based on the agreement between the state and the federal government.

“We entered into agreement with the state to support it with money to engage firms, based on the local procurement process, to survey and demarcate the land it donated for the project,” Saleh said.

Suswam, however, insisted that the ministry must give account of how the money was used since it was given by the Federal Government.

“It is left for you to ask the Taraba State Government to furnish you with the details of how the N812 million was spent,” Suswam said.