The former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited, James Olotu, has explained why the planned privatisation of 10 gas power generation plants built by the company under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) scheme has not been concluded, The Punch reports.
According to him, fluctuations in the exchange rate of the naira to the United States dollar, vandalising of gas pipelines and violence in parts of the country were preventing the sale of 10 electricity generation plants under the NIPPs.
It was also gathered that about $2.7bn profit that would have accrued to the three tiers of government from the sale of the NIPPs had been stalled as a result of the inability to sell the plants.
The NIPPs are owned by the federal, state and local governments and the power plants are managed by the NDPHC. He stated that the 10 NIPPs, among which six are currently producing and supplying power to the grid, were worth $7.1bn, adding that private investors had offered to pay $5.7bn for 80 per cent of the facilities, but this had yet to happen due to the challenges confronting the process.
