ECONOMIC INSIGHT TCN sets new transmission records at 5,222 MW

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), on Sunday, disclosed that it recorded a new national peak with the transmission of 5,222.3 mega watts (MW) of electricity into the national grid on December 18.

TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Ndidi Mbah, said in a statement in Abuja that the achievement was the highest ever recorded in the nation’s power sector.

Mbah said the current peak transmission surpassed the 5,155.9 mw attained on Dec. 8, and the 5,074.7 mw earlier recorded on Feb. 2, 2016.

She said TCN developed the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion programme to enable it prioritise and execute critical transmission projects, to properly key into the incremental power policy of the Federal Government.

“This necessitated the clearing of the company’s stranded containers carrying various transmission equipment at the sea ports to enable it complete previously abandoned projects to further expand the grid capacity.

“Of the 759 containers abandoned by contractors at the sea ports within the last five years, 454 have been cleared from March to date.

“Payment for 193 containers has been made and they are being cleared, while payment for the outstanding 112 containers is yet to be made,” she said.

Mbah further explained that all the 454 containers cleared from the ports had been taken to various construction sites in Yola, Gulak, Katsina, Jos, Dambatta, Ganmo, Abeokuta, Onitsha and Benin.

She said that other construction sites that the containers had been deployed to included Odoguyan, Ede, Igangan, Okene, Walalambe, Akwanga, Kachia, Kumbotso and Kaduna.

According to Mbah, the containers had been abandoned at the ports for two to six years by contractors for various reasons.

One of the reasons, according to her, included suspension of TCN’s Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) in 2013 by the Ministry of Finance.