Cross River renews struggle to revive relevance of Tinapa with 26MW power plant
As the excitement that trailed the development of massive Tinapa Free Trade Zone laced with a world class multipurpose entertainment centre, the Tinapa Resort continues to drop after several administration in Cross River State, the current government lead by Governor Ben Ayade seems to have decided to redevelop the complex.
This is coming on heels of new plan to commence the construction of another power plant in addition to an ongoing 21 megawatts plant in the state.
The scheme to be funded by the Export-Import Bank of India and the Cross River State Government will lead to the development of a 26MW gas-powered plant in Tinapa within 24 months.
In a statement issued by the World President, Skipper Seil Group, Mr. Jitender Sacheva, after a technical presentation of final execution plan for the proposed power generation project said “This project is not just the construction of the 26MW power plant but it will also involve the construction of gas pipelines, a pump station as well as end-to-end gas distribution networks for domestic use”.
“This project is long overdue and I’m excited that today it has been actualised because of your effort including your aides know the important of the project and weighed in promptly with several visits to India to fast-track its timely execution.
Sacheva said the project had been approved by the Indian government, only waiting to be execution in the state.
He made it clear before the Governor that “We are here basically to ask you to hand over to us physically the land designated for the project so as to enable us to commence construction work immediately,” saying “We are setting two-year timeline but I assure you that the power plant will be inaugurated before May 2019 when you are expected to begin your second tenure in office.”
Responding, Prof Ayade noted that the project is a dream come true, saying, “Cross Riverians can be assured that we will be giving them 23MW of power coming from Parliamentary Extension plant while Skipper’s 26MW will be coming out of Tinapa, including a 10MW solar plant. I can proudly tell you that Calabar will never be switched off again.”
According to him, “My engineers will also be going for some testing and I am sure that once the license is issued, shipment will commence.
“So, on the basis of that, I want to seek for partnership between Cross River State and your company to build transmission line as soon as possible.
“This is very imperative because by the time we have 56MW being generated and I know that Federal Government has approved that Cross River owning Odukpani power plant with over 500MW and that it is only natural that they will channel and retain 100MW for our state’s consumption.”
He revealed that with the delivery of the 26MW at Tinapa in the next 24 months, total power generation from the state will rise to 156MW which would be enough to sustain the state.
Ayade said, “But it will not be fair enough if we retain all that power in Calabar.
Calabar will need just about 45MW including the Ayade Industrial Park. So, the rest must be evacuated across the entire spectrum of the state.
“We also like to see how we can work with you on the transmission line on the 274km Superhighway because our hope is that we should be able to transmit at least 100MW that will be distributed to other parts of the state.
“This cannot be done on the existing national grid because we lack a grid backbone to convey from the Odukpani power plant to the Northern and Central Senatorial District,” Governor Ayade noted.
