SIR: With less than six months to the end of the Buhari administration, one would wonder why a project as important as the Mambilla hydro project which promises 50,000 skilled jobs, enormous economic spill overs and 3,050 megawatts of hydro power electricity has not seen the light of day. It has been so since 1972 when the project was conceived.
From the Obasanjo era till date, it’s either been one conspiracy or the other, lies and fairy tales as a result of bureaucracy and weak commitment to see this viable project through. President Muhammed Buhari who seems to have lost a lot of support due to economic downturn, has, surprisingly, been the only siting president to have given the project some level of hope to succeed.
If there is one thing the APC led government has achieved, it is tremendous infrastructural development and many may not know this, but the APC-led government with limited financial resources at her disposal has executed more milestone projects than any other regime before it.
From projects like the operation 600 roads to the almost completed N90billion Bodo Bonny road and bridges, to tremendous progress on the Second Niger Bridge to improved rail services and other supply chains to the hinterland, development of the inland dry port in Kano and Kaduna, and the direct rail nationwide connection, one can safely call President Buhari, Mr. Project.
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The million naira question still remains if Buhari will fulfil his promise in the execution of the much needed Mambilla Hydro Power Project before handing over or if the current crises would continue to linger. Studies have found that both short and long term gains of this viable project will not only eradicate poverty in the long term but also address the security situation in the Northeast.
The Mambilla hydro project is regarded as Africa’s biggest dam project. The Buhari-led government approved the constitution of an Inter-ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC), and Project Delivery Committee (PDC), for the project with milestone targets. Sunrise Power Transmission Company (SPTC) which won the bidding process 2003 and secured the approval of President Olusegun Obasanjo still remains the only local content pioneer with the lasting solution via its funding arrangement with the Chinese Export-Import Bank which is to provide 85 per cent of the funding (as a loan) while the government provides 15 per cent ($870 million).
As of today, federal government has failed to conclude its settlement agreement with Sunrise. It is advisable, looking at the benefits of this project, for the government to meet its own side of agreement, sheath its sword and follow the honourable path to enable the project take off.
•Ibrahim Mustapha,
Pambegua, Kaduna State.