The Federal Government has allocated 91 percent of the total capital expenditure in the Federal Ministry of Power headquarters to the construction of Zungeru Hydro and other Power Sector Recovery Operation, PSRO, in the proposed 2023 budget.
Figures from the government showed that of the N161.533 billion budgeted for the capital project on the Ministry of Power headquarters, Zungeru Hydro would receive N76.554 billion while multilateral/bilateral project tied loans for the PSRO would gulp N70.562 billion.
The 700 Megawatts Zungeru Hydro power plant is estimated to cost $1.3 billion with 25 percent of the cost coming from the Nigerian government and 75 percent as loan from the Chinese government. The contract for the project was awarded by the Federal Government in 2013 to Chinese firm, Messrs CNEEC-Sinohydro Consortium.
2023 Budget: FG Allocates N147bn Fo Zungeru Hydro, PSRO Projects
Checks on the budget figures under the ministry also showed that N43.043 billion has been provided for capital projects in the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, with multilateral/bilateral project-tied loans – Nigeria Electrification projects getting N23.956 billion.
As part of measures to improve power transmission given the instability of the national power grid system, the Federal Government allocated N200 million to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, for digital communication, supervisory control and data acquisition, SCADA system, adaption and nationwide upgrade. The TCN has a total capital budget of N26.264 billion.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper