BPE pre-qualifies 16 firms for five NIPPs privatisation

Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh has announced the pre-qualification of 16 firms for the privatisation of five National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) in the country.

Mr Okoh made the announcement at the Investor Pre-bid Conference for the privatisation of the five NIPP plants namely: Geregu, Omotosho, Olorunsogo, Calabar and Benin-Ihovbor which held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Ibeh, Uzoma Chidi, Head, Public Communications of the BPE in a statement issued on Thursday said he listed the16 pre-qualified bidders as: Mota-Engil Nig, Amperion Power, Sifax Energy, Pacific Energy Company Ltd and Globeleq Africa Limited.

The others are Geoplex Drillteq Limited, Asfalizo Acquisition Ltd, Launderhill PJB, Lauderhill Tata, Unicorn Power Genco Ltd, Connaught Energy Services Ltd, ENL Consortium Ltd, Ardova Plc, Central Electric and Utilities Ltd, North South Power Consortium and Quantum Megawatt Consortium.

Earlier, Okoh noted that the power sector remains a viable investment in the country given the low per-capital Megawatts recording Nigeria.

He added that the interest shown by bidders and the opening up of the generation aspect of the power sector confirmed the vast opportunities abound in the sector and that the Bureau and other relevant stakeholders were committed to making the sector very sustainable.

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Okoh revealed that the objectives of the pre-bid conference were to address possible questions from the prequalified bidders with regards to the transactions and provide clarity on some issues in the Transaction Documents as may be necessary.

He also said that the forum would also highlight the potential in the Nigerian power sector and provide a platform for potential investors to understand the process for the privatisation of the NIPP power plants as well as to enable them adequately to prepare their bid documents.

Mr. Okoh further said: “This event is a continuation of the Federal Government’s reform of the power sector with the aim of ensuring that assets within the sector are fully utilized and transformed into world-class facilities, through the injection of private sector capital and deployment of more efficient and technical capacity”.

He allayed the fears of potentials buyers of some of the plants which have litigation issues, saying that such litigations were baseless and frivolous as the Bureau and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) were empowered by the bids’ provisions under NIPPs transaction to terminate bids that violated the ground rules.

The event attracted critical stakeholders in the power sector including the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and Nigerian Bulk Trading Company (NBET).

It would be recalled that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in April 2021 approved the adoption of a fast-track strategy for the privatisation of the five NIPP Plants:

Council also approved the engagement of CPCS Consortium as the Technical Adviser (TA) for the 100 percent sale of the 5 NIPP Plants, in line with the policy of divesting government shares from thermal generating plants.

Subsequently, the Bureau advertised in three national dailies and an online news platform, calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from prospective investors for the sale of the 5 NIPP Power Plants, with a submission deadline of Wednesday, 30th June 2021.

At the expiration of the deadline for the submission of EOIs, 36 EOIs were duly submitted from the prospective investors and the closure for the receipt of the EOIs was witnessed by the representatives of the Department of State Security Services (DSS), Anti-corruption and Transparency/Servicom Unit (ACTSU) of the Bureau.