The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Distribution

  • Why Nestle opened N5.4b Distribution Centre

    Food manufacturing giant Nestle Nigeria PLc scored another first in the sector when it inaugurated a N5.4 billion Distribution Centre in Agbara, Ogun State.

    Declaring the centre open, the Chairman, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Olusegun Osunkeye, said with the centre, goods such as beverages, maggi and golden morn would get to consumers faster than before.

    He said the centre is Nestle’s biggest factory not only in Nigeria, but also in West Africa.

    “Spread over an area of four hectares, the new 17,000-pallet capacity warehouse facility is designed to manage the capacity increases following massive infrastructural up- grades at the Agbara factory in the last five years,” Osunkeye said.

    The Managing Director, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Mr Martins Woolnough, said the centre was built in two years, adding that it uses Radio Shuttle Automatic Racks, a technology which moves goods faster, adding that the centre provides jobs for over Nigerian 1,800 staff.

    He said: “This new state-of-the-art Distribution Centre reflects more than just an important investment to broaden our nutrition, health and wellness business platform; it illustrates also our commitment to the growth of the economy.”

    He said Nestle has been doing business in Nigeria for over five decades, during which it brought value to the society by sourcing locally for maize, soya beans and other products, creating employment, offering high quality nutritious products to Nigerians.

    He said by “opening our distribution centre in Agbara, we will be closer to our consumers now and thus serve them better.”

    The facility, Woolnough added,wouldfurther strengthen Nigeria’s role as the largest manufacturing operation for Nescafe in the West and Central Africa region and that it is key to Nestle’s growth.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ekiti, Delta, others make case for Benin Distribution Company

    Ekiti, Delta, others make case for Benin Distribution Company

    The battle for acquisition of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) assets slated for privatisation before end of the year is getting keener as states governments including Ekiti, Delta, Ondo and Edo States justified the need to own assets located in their areas.

    Representatives of the four states had urged the Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to award the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to Southern Electricity Distribution Company – a consortium in which the four states have equity shares – as the preferred bidder.

    At a stakeholders’ sensitisation forum organised by the states, the Chief Press Secretary to the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, stressed reasons the Federal Government should give the asset to the company owned by the four states.

    He said the states made efforts to secure companies with world class technical and operational expertise that emerged the best technically qualified consortium.

    Besides, he noted that the Benin Electricity Distribution Company is located in the Niger Delta region, which has security issue and very difficult terrain. To get the best out of the privatisation, involvement of the states would help tackle such challenges, he added.

    He said: “The BEDC is located in the troubled Niger Delta region, which is one of the most challenging environments in the world, with miles and miles of river, tributaries, quick sands and swamps; angry and restive youths and communities that require a strong local knowledge and government participation to have successful. The BEDC is very large, 57,000sq km with very large rural to urban ratio of rural 80 per cent and 20 per cent.

    “We also came out as the most technically qualified consortium of all the bids for Benin. We are the only bidder in Benin with a technical partner who has experience of the size of the Benin DisCo, current operation of 50,000sq km, containing over 4800 villages and 450 towns.

    “Our technical partner Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited (UGVCL), was voted 2011 Gold medallist of utilities operations excellence in India and also named best Rural electricity distribution company for several years. Currently the company has the lowest Aggregated Technical and Commercial and Collection Loss (ATC & C Loss) record in India, 6.6 per cent in 2010 and 10.12 per cent in 2011.”

    He said that comparatively other firms that submitted bids for BEDC have no rural distribution experience and only operate in urban areas, which are less than one per cent of the size of Benin DisCo, 527sq km and 495sq km respectively.

    He said that UGVCL, an Indian state owned firm has a customer base of 2,780,000; BEDC has 676,688, while the technical partners of other competitors for the asset, though from India, are private owned companies and have very low customer base.

    Other investors that submitted bids for the Benin asset include Vigeo Power Consortium, Cable and Rods Company Nigeria Limited; Copper Belt Consortium; Rockson Engineering Company Limited; Rensmart Power Limited and Duncan Freeman Company/Draytom Energy Limited.

    Besides, SEDC, Oyebode added, has clear transformational and social responsibility programme that have outlined definite performance improvement strategies to be implemented in 18 months after acquisition and beyond. The company he said also seeks to create an environmentally friendly company that prioritises employees’ health and safety.

    Vigeo Power, which was the management operator for the National Pre-Payment Metering Programme (NPPMP) in the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) covering Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti States, also showcased competence. Its promoters including Vigeo Holdings Limited, Global Utilities Management Company Limited, African Finance Corporation; and its technical partners; TATA Power Delhi Distribution Limited, Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited (‘CESC’) and Global Utilities Management Company Limited (GUMCO), have been providing technical Services to Benin and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company. They also know the terrains very well.

    Vigeo Holdings Limited in the past 25 years have been operating in the oil and gas, power, shipping, steel, commercial and financial services and has track record, extensive client network and stable State-of-the-art infrastructure.

    Its technical partner, North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL), a joint venture of the Tata Power Company Limited, has market capitalisation of approximately US$ 100 billion. Tata Power holds the majority stake (51 per cent) and control, with the balance 49 per cent equity stake being held by the Government of Delhi through its Holding Company, Delhi Power Company Limited (DPCL). The Company has a registered consumer base of 1.1 million across an area of 510 sq.km with a peak load of around 1250 MW. NDPL has reduced the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses in its licensed area from 53 per cent in July 2002 to 14.47 per cent at the end of March 2010.

    The same applies to Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (India) Limited another of its technical partner. The Company holds a license to supply electricity in the cities of Kolkata and Howrah and in the adjoining areas. The Company is currently the only distributor of electricity within an area of 567 sq km. In the year ended March 31, 2010, it sold electricity to approximately 2.38 million consumers including domestic, industrial and commercial users.