Indian, Canadian firms eye Nigerian power contract

Nigeria’s privatisation regulator gave the go ahead for Canadian and Indian firms to submit bids for a major power contract, part of plans to overhaul the country’s woeful electricity infrastructure. Despite holding the world’s seventh-largest gas reserves, Nigeria only provides its 160 million inhabitants with enough electricity to power a medium-sized European city, meaning those who can afford it rely on expensive diesel generators.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said Manitoba Hydro of Canada and state-owned Power Grid of India have been issued documents to submit bids for the management contract of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). “The two investors are presently undertaking due diligence on TCN and its network in order to submit their technical and financial proposals,” a statement from BPE said.
“TCN is one of the eighteen successor companies carved out of Power Holding Company of Nigeria. It combines the functions of a transmission services provider, a system operator and a market operator, all of which are central to the sustainability and development of the electricity sector.” BPE initially gave the go-ahead for the two bidders to submit proposals in August 2010 but political wrangling and elections in April last year have delayed progress. Power infrastructure can be roughly split into three sections: generation, transmission and distribution.