Work on 3050MW Mambilla Power Plant to begin as litigant withdraws suit at ICA
Though funding remains another major bottleneck, but last week’s withdrawal of age long lawsuit filed at the International Court of Arbitration against the execution of the project against the 3050MW Mambilla Power Plant, may have cleared the way for any meaningful activities towards the realization of the multibillion dollar scheme.
Pursuit to the withdrawal of the suit, Nigeria has gotten an approval from the International Court of Arbitration to resume works on its 3050 megawatts (MW) capacity Mambilla hydro power plant.
The good news was broken by the the chairman of the project delivery committee for the plant, Mr. Farouk Yabo, during the project’s sensitisation meeting.
Yabo made it clear that the lawsuit was one of the factors that had stalled the power project, adding that 40 years after it was initiated the legal issue had finally been resolved and the lawsuit withdrawn.
He disclosed that “The person that took the federal government to the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) has already withdrawn the case last week,” noting that the plaintiff (name with held) had reached an agreement with the government.
Observers say with the suit now out of the way, what is remaining now is for the government inaugurated project delivery committee to fast-track its execution.
Recall that the Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, had earlier last week revealed that the committee was approved by President Mohammadu Buhari, which was followed with the constitution of an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) which is chaired by the minister.
However, though the Committee is yet to meet so as to work out how to attract funding for the scheme, analysts fear chances of default and possible takeover of the strategic project if the targeted loan comes from China as envisaged.
Statistics from other African economies show that four African countries are currently victims of Chinese loan default and the financiers had taken over the management of the projects. An example on hand is the Tanzania port of Zanzibar now managed and controlled by Chinese bank.
