FG Denies Plans To Stop Payment Of Shortfalls To GENCOS Following a report in a national daily newspaper, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing Wednesday denied that the Federal Government has stopped the payment of shortfalls to Electricity Generation Companies (GenCos), describing the report as both false and unfounded. The report, contained in the Wednesday edition of Punch Online media, held that the Federal Government on Tuesday ordered power generation companies to find customers and sell their power directly to the identified customers as, according to the report, “plans are on the way for it to ultimately exit the monthly payments to Gencos to help cushion the revenue shortfalls on the books of the power generators as a result of the poor remittances from the power distributors”. The report titled, “FG to stop payment of shortfalls to Gencos” and attributed to the Permanent Secretary (Power) in the Ministry, Engr. Louis Edozien, emanated from the remarks of the Permanent Secretary at a Workshop organized by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Tuesday, 12th February, 2019 on the Eligible Customer Regulation. But in a Statement signed by the Permanent Secretary in person, the Ministry asserted that at no point in his remarks did the Permanent Secretary state that "FGN is to stop payment of shortfalls to Gencos", pointing out that the Payment Assurance Programme of the Federal Government that authorized the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) to guarantee payment for any power it has contracted from generation companies on the national grid had not been reversed. The Statement read in part, “The Payment Assurance Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria that authorized NBET to borrow N701.9 billion to guarantee payment for any power it has contracted from generation companies on the national grid and their gas and other suppliers has been in operation since January 2017. The amount NBET is authorized to borrow is not yet fully drawn. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the programme. FEC has not taken any decision to stop it. FEC is the appropriate authority to comment on the Programme’s tenure and borrowing ceiling”. In order to set the records straight, the Statement clarified that at the workshop organized by NERC on the Eligible Customer Regulation, the Permanent Secretary urged generation companies to more aggressively take advantage of the regulation to sell the power they can generate, of which 2,000MW is now stranded, to Eligible Customers who need it and are willing and able to pay for it. Insisting that it would be better than waiting for NBET to pay for it or to guarantee it, for which NBET needs support from the Federal Government due to shortfalls in payment by distribution companies, the Permanent Secretary decried that though the Minister issued the policy direction to NERC that gave rise to the regulation in May 2017, and NERC has issued the regulation, none of the interested consumers and their generation company suppliers have been given licenses to buy and sell power as Eligible Customers. He encouraged NERC to accelerate and simplify the licensing process. He further stated that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) should continue to support the regulation by making targeted investments in the national grid, as needed to service specific contracts with generation companies and Eligible Customers to transmit the power, with penalties for failure to transmit, adding that TCN could finance such targeted investments with the expected revenue from such bilateral transmission contracts. Encouraging electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to embrace the policy, the Permanent Secretary argued that if the DisCos were satisfying the power supply needs of their consumers of bulk power adequately such consumers would have no reason to generate the power by themselves or to want to become Eligible Customers adding that by embracing the regulation, the DisCos could partner with investors and generation companies to build new distribution infrastructure to better serve specific paying customers. “They can buy power directly from generation companies and contract with TCN to deliver it, and give premium service to selected customers or customer groups”, the Permanent Secretary said adding that in such cases the distribution company must be willing and able to guarantee the payment for the power they buy, “because the shortfalls in payment which characterizes their power purchases from NBET, would not be possible in such bilateral contracts”. The Permanent Secretary then enjoined dissatisfied consumers to take advantage of the Customer Care platforms set up by all the distribution companies in compliance with the provisions of their license, and escalate unresolved complaints to the NERC Consumer f Forum offices, as provided for in regulations, emphasizing that dissatisfied consumers could take advantage of the Mini-Grid Regulation, NERC's up-coming Franchising Regulation and the Eligible Customer Regulation to get premium power that meets their needs. The Workshop revealed that the Ministry has received forty four (44) expressions of interest with a total demand for 600MW from underserved and unserved consumers desirous of becoming Eligible Customers. Of these, 14 have submitted license applications to NERC, two have fulfilled all NERC's conditions and expect to be licensed imminently. The Ministry enjoins the public to discountenance the false report, and requests that the news outlets purveying such fake news cease and desist. ...

FG Reopens Apapa/ Leventis Bridge, Pledges Repairs On Third Mainland Bridge After closure for over one year, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing on Wednesday reopened the Apapa/Leventis Bridge to traffic. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the bridge was closed for emergency repairs in August 2016 after a portion of the bridge deck damaged by fire caved in. Some of the reinforcement rods on top of the bridge’s centre had become exposed as the asphalt covering them had been eroded. It was re-opened to light traffic after the emergency repairs and later shut in 2017. The permanent repairs began in 2018 after Julius Berger, the contractor on the project, imported some materials to aid the repairs. The 40-year-old bridge links Nigeria’s premier port to both the Lagos Mainland and Island. While performing the tape cutting ceremony to open the bridge, the Director Highways, South West, Mr Funsho Adebiyi said that the opening would ease gridlock on the Apapa axis. “It is my pleasure to open this bridge in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Today we are having a new bridge as well as a new access road. So, hopefully gridlock will end here,” he said. He said that government was going to take drastic action against all forms of abuses that would cause damage to bridges in Lagos. The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Adedamola Kuti said that the bridge was damaged in 2016 due to “activities of some miscreants living under the bridge’’. “When the contractor came on board and removed the slab, that is the deck that got damaged, we discovered that the beams carrying the weight of the slab itself had been affected by the fire. “So, there was no way we could go ahead with the replacement of the slab, other than for us to start from the beams. So we had to produce new distress beams, and then, of course, the slabs. “And we have also done the surfacing of the other adjoining slab close to the damaged one,’’ he said. He thanked residents for their patience during the period of closure of the bridge and pledged Federal Government’s commitment to continued maintenance of all the roads and bridges in Lagos. He listed bridges that had been repaired to include the Marine Beach Bridge, Coconut Bridge and Ijora 7Up Bridge. He added that work was ongoing on the Alaka Bridge in Surulere and the Third Mainland Bridge. He further explained that repair works were ongoing on Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta, Lagos-Ibadan, Ikorodu-Sagamu Expressways and some other federal roads in the metropolise. Kuti said that materials for total rehabilitation of the Third Mainland bridge had been imported and that permanent repair works would soon begin on some damaged expansion joints alongside the ongoing rehabilitation of the bridge. “We have completed the Adeniji Adele bound, we are working on the Mainland bound. So the repair works on the Third Mainland will start very soon because our materials are on the way,’’ he said. Speaking on the newly installed beams on the Apapa/Leventis Bridge, Mr Thomas Balzuweit, Julius Berger’s Regional Manager, said that experts were used to get “a comprehensive design study to get high quality materials“. Balzuweit added that various quality control checks were done before installing the beams to ensure structural integrity of the bridge to cater for the huge vehicular traffic on the axis. Alhaji Wasiu Olowuntoye, President, Container Truck Owners Association, who led a delegation of truck drivers to witness the opening, said that the hardship to truck owners would be minimized. “We are happy today because our members have suffered so much, they spend several days and sometimes weeks trying to go in or out of the ports but with this bridge opened, there will be good for traffic flow,’’ he said. Source: (NAN) ...

No Nation Develops Without Building Its Infrastructure - Fashola The Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola SAN, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is committed to providing the necessary roads, bridges, rails and electricity that will, in no distant time bring about the overall social economic and political development of Nigeria inspite of visible and sharp decline of oil revenue. Fashola disclosed this late yesterday, when he received in audience the Management, 18 facilitators and 57 participants of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, who paid him a courtesy call in his Mabushi office. He commended the effort of NITT for including Transport Planning and Logistic works in their curriculum which is useful in the chain of production and distribution of goods and services in Nigeria, adding that the present administration needs the services of the institute and that Mr President is providing a very useful laboratory material for members of the institute to thrive. The Minister described members of NITT as stakeholders and partners in the wheel of progress and development of the Nigeria economy, noting that ‘’ the elements of national development and prosperity have come together at the appropriate time’’. He therefore enjoined members of NITT to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to achieve his mandate of providing the basic needed infrastructure for the overall benefit of Nigerians. Earlier, the Acting Director General and Chief Executive of NITT, Dr Abimbola Odumosu stated on behalf of his institute that the reason for their visit was essentially to seek for partnership with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in the development of manpower as regards transport and logistics which is NITT’s  area of specialisation, stating that collaboration between NITT and the Ministry will provide the nation with the needed impetus for sustainable growth and development. Dr Abimbola disclosed that NITT was established in 1986 as a Management Development Institution to among other things provide management training for personnel employed in all modes of transport and Serves as a Transport Intelligence Centre for monitoring transport and logistics system and to conduct research in all modes of transport in Nigeria ...