The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has disclosed that the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Power Project is currently being probed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The project, which was awarded to Sunrise Power in 2003 has raised a lot of concerns due to allegations of breach of contract by the company.
However, the Minister, while fielding questions from the Senate Committee on Power on Tuesday revealed that the issue has been resolved by both parties.
He added that the Sunrise litigation on the project was the only problem hampering its commencement.
He said, “Regarding Mambilla, we have met with stakeholders and we are resolving the situation. It has something to do with litigation, there is nothing going on as regards moving to site by the contractor.
“EFCC has stepped into the matter and we have given them information about it, we have given them the history of the Power Project, our lawyers have interfaced with the anti-graft agency, unless we are able to pull out of litigation, we can’t do anything.
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“I don’t think the investor will bring their money where there is encumbrance.”
Reacting, the Chairman of the Committee, Gabriel Susuwan, described the project as a mirage and decried that the government has funded the project for many years, yet it has not yielded a positive result.
His words, “We were told that it was going to be re-scoped, even the re-scoping of the project has not been done.
“So in essence, it means that there is no project that is on ground like Mambilla. It is all about talks and lips service, that is why we are concerned about the money that is provided for consultancy and the money used for the training of staff that are supposed to be utilised if Mambilla was in place.
“Why provide money all these years when nothing actually is on ground.”
He said the committee has directed the minister of power to ask the permanent secretary and other desk officers to appear before it to explain how the yearly budgetary allocations for Mambila have been utilised.
“Since 2017, monies have been provided for Mambila but nothing has done on the project in spite of the pressure we have been mounting on federal government,” he said.
“It is clear that the Mambilla power project will not be able to start before the end of this administration.”
When completed, the 3,050megawatts power station is expected to be the largest power-generating installation in the country, and one of the largest hydroelectric power stations in Africa.