THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) says it has so far spent over $1.1 billion on the ongoing construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline and station project.
The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said this on Monday April 24 while touring some of the project sites in Kogi state with newsmen and some stakeholders.
Kyari was accompanied on the tour by some top officials of the NNPC Limited and Oilserv Limited, (Pipelines and Facilities), the contractor of the project.
He disclosed that the company would continue to fund the project, which it was delivering in phases, though it did not have third party finance for the project.
He said, “So far, NNPC Ltd has spent over $1.1 billion on the project. To date, none of the project activities is abandoned as reported, and we reassure all stakeholders that we have a line of sight to project delivery on schedule.
“NNPC Limited remains highly committed to the delivery of strategic national infrastructure projects through responsive project delivery, active collaboration with government security agencies and communities, as well as deployment of technology for delivering the project.”
Kyari asserted that the project was one of the key ones that deliver proportional value to the country’s economic growth.
“It is a must-deliver project and we have continued to fund. In spite of not having third party finance support, we will deliver this project.
“We do not owe a dollar to our contractors. There are over 30 sites that are active today in this project, and we are very hopeful and optimistic to deliver this project,” he assured.
The GCEO lamented that the company had lost some site workers due to insecurity. He consoled the families of such families, whose grief he said the company shared.
He disclosed that 70 per cent of the welding work of the project had been completed, adding that once welding was completed, gas could actually flow through the pipeline.
According to Kyari, the completion of the pipeline would deliver two billion cubic feet of gas, powering industries and power plants, and creating gas- based industries.
He said the entire welding work would be completed by the third quarter of 2023, and the pipeline would then be energised.
Kyari further said that the AKK gas pipeline was projected to support power plants with a total of 3,645 megawatts, adding that the NNPCLtd would soon begin constrution of the Abuja- Kaduna power plants in ernest.
Earlier, the Project Manager, Oilserv Ltd, Steve Nnorom, that there were three phases of the pipeline project and station installations. These are the Alpha, Bravo and Chalie segments, on which Nnorom said there had been progress.
He said the company had completed 73 per cent of the mainland welding works of the project and had done 222 kilometres of it, leaving only 27 kilometres of welding work to be done.
“We are crossing rivers, railways, existing pipelines. We have other sites where various work activities are ongoing. Our target is that concurrently, all works will be going on at different spread,” he said.
Nnorom, while noting that the project had been active and fully financed, said that it had purely 100 per cent Nigerian workers.
He assured the NNPCLtd team that the entire welding work would be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.