By; Patrick Titus, Uyo
Concentrating power plant within South South region of Nigeria because of the availability of gas and other raw materials will save the federal government the cost of developing kilomitres of gas pipelines estimated at over a million dollars.
Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Special Duties, Engr. Etido Inyang who made the observation during a chart in Uyo said that it would be economically unfriendly to embark on the project in areas far from sources of gas.
“I keep on saying that it is better for Nigeria to concentrate her power development in one region that does have that raw material which is gas, rather than spreading power all over the country and you don’t have gas. To develop one kilometre of gas pipe line will take more than one million dollars and when you have 100 kilometres, you know what happens. So, why not concentrate on the South-South where there is enormous gas and then you take it to the National Grid” he said.
On power transmission’s license, Engr. Inyang called on the federal government to approve license for Akwa Ibom to help fast track the industrialization policy of the state government.
“If you are developing a steel company, taking a 300 tons of power plant will need about 45 mega watts of power. So, the industries we are trying to create is either they develop their own power plant because the distribution we are having from the Ibom Power Plant in Ikot Abasi is poor and you cannot solely depend on it to provide that 45 mega watts of power. We need power to turn on the industries”
