Federal government has disclosed that 42 firms had been shortlisted for the financial bids opening of the 10 power plants built under the National Integration Power Projects (NIPPs) by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) of Limited.
The Benue state Governor, Gabriel Suswam, disclosed this at the state House at the end of the 3rd joint meeting of the NDPHC and the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
Suswam said the 42 firms that would take part in the financial bids opening were picked from the 66 proposals for the offer of sales of 80 percent of the shares in each of the 10 generating companies.
“The evaluation team carried out the evaluation exercise following the approved evaluation criteria and guidelines and subsequent due diligence reports have now been approved and reviewed by the joint transaction board.
“Of the 66 proposals received, 54 proposals met the criteria to be technically qualified based on the findings of the subsequent due diligence exercise. 42 proposals have qualified for the financial bids opening.
“Consequently, of the 66 proposals submitted, a total of 24 have either failed the technical evaluation or the due diligences assessment.The number of proposals received and qualified for each of the Niger Delta power generating companies will be subsequently published, each of the companies that qualified for each company will be published subsequently.
“But out of the 66, only 42 are qualified for the financial bids opening that will be done next week Friday. So, the NDPHC will publish the names of those who are qualified for the purpose of the general public,” he said.
He attributed the power challenge currently being witnessed in parts of the country to teething problems associated with a transition from government-owned to private sector-driven sector.
He also said challenges were being experienced in the area of gas supply because gas infrastructure had not yet been properly put in place.
This, he said, led to the hiccups being experienced by generating companies with gas supplies.
He however assured that the Ministry of Power was collaborating with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to address the problem.
