The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Sahelian Power SPV Limited, owners of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), Dr. Jamil I. Gwamna, has disclosed that the company had injected over N500,000,000 in KEDC since takeover in November 2013.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday when a post privatization monitoring team from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), in continuation of its monitoring exercise of privatized PHCN successor Companies visited the DISCO.
Represented by the company’s General Manager, Human Resource and Services, Adamu Katanga Salihu, he stated that the organization was collecting data for calculations of ATC&C in order to establish the baseline losses for the company, customer mapping for metering, cost of service studies. He informed that a stakeholders’ sensitization forum was organized in May, 2014 and that plans were in place to hold the second forum in August 2014.
He revealed that the company which covers three North-West States – Katsina, Kano and Jigawa, carried out infrastructural development projects in the areas of upgrade of Shuwarin S/S from 300KVA to 500KVA, 11/.415KV in March 2014; Radio House 200KVA, 11/.415KV S/S in March 2014; Ashton Road 300KVA, 11/.415KV Relief S/S in April 2014; upgrade of Ashton Road S/S from 300KVA to 500KVA, 11/.415KV in April 2014; procurement of operational vehicles; investments in IT in accounts and customer billing and establishment of NERC Forum offices for customer complaints in all itsbusiness units and is undertaking network upgrade and total renovation and furnishing of its Headquarters.
He added that the company had registered and billed additional 19,969 customers since takeover and currently carries out daily broadcast of energy allocations from the national grid and how it is being distributed to different consumers within the business units. It is also in the process of acquiring 100,000 prepaid meters for supply to its customers.
In his remarks, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, who was represented by the Acting Director of Information and Communication Department of the Bureau, Mal, Sanusi I. Sule, said that the purpose of the visit was to ascertain the level of compliance by the core investor to the Post Acquisition Plan, given the value placed on the power sector reform by the Federal Government. This is to ensure that the obligations covenanted by Sahelian Power SPV Limited are being religiously carried out.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government, through the Bureau of Public Enterprises, on November 1, 2013 handed over Kano Electricity Distribution Company to Sahelian Power SPV Limited after the company’s payment of 100 percent of its bid amount of $135,630,000 and the subsequent handover of share certificates/license by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on September 30, 2013 in furtherance of the administration’s Transformation Agenda.
