TCN’s Operational Bottlenecks Hinder Funding from World Bank, France

The delay by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to package transmission projects to meet the eligibility criteria of the multi-lateral donor institutions like the World Bank and the French Development Agency (FDA) has hindered the country’s access to millions of dollars earmarked by these agencies for power transmission and distribution projects, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY gathered that as part of their intervention in the country’s power sector, these multi-lateral donor agencies had required the TCN to package the projects to meet their eligibility criteria for accessing funding.

It was, however, learnt that TCN has been very slow in packaging the projects as required by the World Bank.

Some power operators, who spoke to THISDAY on the funding challenges facing the country’s power sector, said at the delay by the TCN had denied the country sizeable funds from these agencies.

“The amazing thing we have here is that multi-lateral donor institutions like the World Bank, the French Development Agency have earmarked millions of dollars, for the transmission and distribution (T&D)space in Nigeria. They require TCN, in particular, to package the projects to meet their eligibility criteria. That is a process that is underway, but it can go faster,” one of the operators said

“The power sector is experiencing serious liquidity challenges within the power value chain but lots of funds are out there waiting to be accessed if TCN can package projects appropriately to meet the criteria because these people are not Father Christmas. But government bureaucratic bottlenecks have not allowed the country to access these funds,” said another operator.

Also speaking to THISDAY on the availability of funding from the donor institutions, the President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Nigeria, Dr. Laza-