The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has said that 42 bidders were shortlisted to acquire 80 per cent shares of each of the 10 power plants of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
A board member of the NDPHC, Gov. Gabriel Suswam of Benue, said this while briefing State House correspondents after a joint meeting of the NCP and NDPHC presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.
“On Nov. 8, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company received 66 proposals for the offer of sales of the 80 per cent of the shares in each of the 10 generating companies developed under the National Integration Power Projects.
“The evaluation team carried out an exercise following the approved criteria and guidelines and subsequent due diligence reports have now been reviewed and approved by the joint transaction board.
“Of the 66 proposals received, 54 met the criteria to be technically qualified based on the findings of the subsequent due diligence exercise.
“Forty-two proposals have qualified for the financial bids opening. Of the 66 proposals submitted, 24 failed either the technical evaluation or the due diligence assessment,’’ Gov. Suswam said.
The governor stated that the 42 qualified bidders, who were selected from the 66 applicants, were recommended and approved by the Joint Transaction Board after passing an evaluation exercise.
According to him, number of proposals received and qualified for each of the Niger Delta power generating companies will subsequently be published.
On the epileptic supply of electricity in some parts of the country, Suswam said efforts had been intensified to address the problems by the appropriate authorities.
“There are difficulties in any transition. Since Independence, government has controlled the monopoly of power generation and distribution. This is the first time that they are going to transit from government to private sector.
“So, you should ordinarily expect some teething problems. These teething problems are being addressed by the ministry of power.
According to Suswam, some of the generating companies are experiencing some hiccups with gas supply which is being attended to in conjunction with the NNPC and the ministry of power.
He criticised the vandalism of crude oil pipelines for material gains.
“This is purely sabotage because in crude, people who vandalise these crude pipelines are lifting the oil and selling it.
“But when you vandalise the gas pipelines, there is no way you can scoop it. It is like air. These are people who are economic saboteurs and they should be treated as such,’’ he added.
