July 04, (THEWILL) – Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has said that the 27 mega-watt power plant built by his administration at TINAPA would provide 24 hours electricity supply to Calabar by December 2021.
The governor said the plant, which will soon be inaugurated would, alongside the 23 mega-watts plant at Parliamentary (also in Calabar), boost Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state.
Ayade gave the assurance while inspecting the level of work along with Mr. Jitender Sachdeva, President, Skipperseil Group, Nigeria.
He said the idea was to ensure the MSME’s had access to electricity and to grow the local economy.
“This is actually a social electricity project intended to provide electricity to the poorest of the poor and communities around. We have 27 mega watts here with a potential to install another 27 mega watts, which gives us a combined cycle that can bring in a third. When we get to that capacity, we will be in a position to feed the national grid.”
“We are happy to announce to Nigerians that Cross River State is getting another power plant of 27 mega watts , the one in parliamentary is 23 mega watts.
“The cumulative effect of this is that Cross River State and indeed, Calabar in particular, will be the first state capital that will run on 24 hours electricity supply without fail,” he assured.
He said that with the completion of these power projects, alongside the Federal Government-owned Odukpani Power Plant, the state would generate electricity in excess of 600 mega watts.
He assured that his administration would set up a state transmission line that would disribute the excess power from Calabar to other parts of the state up to Obudu Cattle Ranch.
Prof Ayade said the investments in power were expedient and he was focusing on energy as a way of liberating the people from a horrifying dependence on the very difficult national grid.
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THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
