The Federal Government has initiated an independent audit of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project, whose installed capacity has been slashed by 50 per cent.
The plant described as the second-largest hydropower in Africa was planned as 3,050 megawatts power project.
However, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, had in February stated that the capacity of the Mambilla project had been revised downward from 3,050 megawatts to 1,525MW, as the review would save Nigeria $1bn from the project.
A document on the latest developments in the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project stated that the government was currently reviewing the revised capacity independently in order to validate it.
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It stated that both the potential lenders, project contractors and consultants of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project now believed that the project bankability would be improved by increasing the project Plant Factor.
It stated that the plant factor was being increased from the current level of less than 20 per cent to at least 40 per cent.
“This change comes with the opportunity of reducing the project capital cost and potential power tariffs of the project,” the power ministry stated in the document.
It added, “It is, however, to be noted that the reduction in the project installed capacity from 3,050MW to 1,525MW, while it will increase the project bankability, it will not necessarily reduce the annual gigawatt-hour of energy output from the project in any significant way.
