ABUJA (Ministry of PWH Report)- The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has reiterated the determination of government to build and energize small hydros scattered across the country, so as to provide electricity to the various rural communities near where they are located.
The Minister who disclosed this recently in Abuja while inaugurating both the Steering Committee and Project delivery time, gave the members 45 days to complete assignment from procurement procedure to civil and mechanical engineering works, which is to take cognizance of works already done and what needed to be done in the quest for quick completion of the projects.
He said that the assignment of energizing these small dams is consistent with the target of government, that by year 2020 at least the energy mix for renewable energy sources would be 30%.
Fashola challenged the Committee to work hard in the service of the nation, reminding them that rural folks desire better deal in this dispensation. “We must touch the lives of people in the rural areas by improving their economy through deepening of their access to electricity”.
He implored them to stay focused in the relaxation of government’s plan for incremental power by contributing their quotas in the quest of harnessing all the country’s energy resources.
After the inauguration of the Inter-agency Committees, drawn from Ministries of Mineral Resources, Petroleum, Water Resources, Environment, Agriculture, Bureau of Public Enterprises, (BPE), and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the committees went into an executive session in which it was decided that out of the 45 small dams in the country 8 were selected for the first phase of the exercise. They are Tiga, Challawa dams in Kano-State, Omi-Kampe in Kogi State, Jibiya, Zone dams in Katsina State, Bakalori in Zamfara State, Doma in Nassarawa State and Ikere Gorge in Oyo-State.
