More facts have emerged from the recently concluded workshop for all the qualified applicants in the gas flare commercialization bidding process in Abuja revealing that apart from raising the economy of the nation, the host communities will gain much during the period.
In his presentation, the Program Manager of the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialization Programme (NGFCP), Mr. Justice Derefaka, who dwelt largely on the theme; ‘Regulatory Frameworks, Incentives, Best Practices & Understanding the Request for Proposal (RfP) Phase to Boost Investors’ and Qualified Applicants’ (QAs) Appetites in the NGFCP,’ said ahead of takeoff, the scheme will “Prepare a Community Development Plan in conjunction with the affected community/communities as the Project will pay a percentage of Project Capex on a periodic basis [monthly, quarterly, annually] in advance
“The Community Development Fund will be administered jointly by the Project and the Community itself via a Management Committee which will decide how and on what community Projects the CDF will be spent.
“Community cooperation with the Project is expected, and there will be provisions whereby funding from Project to CDF may be suspended in certain circumstances of their non-cooperation
On the benefits of NGFCP scheme to lenders, Investors and all qualified applicants, Derefaka listed “Sale of Flare Gas by FGN at competitive market-driven prices; Opportunity for secure and dependable long-term gas supply enhancing the monetisation of Flare Gas; Ability to bid for small or large quantities of Flare Gas depending on the size of their proposed Project size and the Flare Gas quantities offered/available.
Others include “Clustering opportunities because some flare sites may naturally align with others, permitting buyers to gain access to larger quantities of Flare Gas as needed to meet their Project needs; Ability to submit multiple Proposals meeting the predetermined criteria laid out in the Request for Proposals (RFP); and flexibility – the NGFCP is market-driven, and Bidders will have flexibility of choosing which flare site(s) to bid for, the gas price, and the end market or gas product, as well as the technology to be used.
The NGFCP boss also made it clear that “Notwithstanding all of the above, part of a Project’s obligations during the operations phase will be to contribute to a Community Development Fund that will be used by community (ies) in the vicinity of a Project for the purpose of community development, and administered according to a jointly devised Community Development Plan (CDP) by a Management Committee comprising Project and community representatives.”
