Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline project is currently at 15 per cent completion.
The Group Managing Director Malam Mele Kyari disclosed this on Tuesday during an inspection of the 2nd leg of the project at Karogo community in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
“We have all the assurances of government and particularly focused on delivering this project so that we clear the transnational gas pipeline which has eluded us.
“By completing the project and expanding the L2 lines and crossing the Ndoniabo River, we would have created a major gas trunkline for gas delivery to our domestic market,” he said.
In a remark, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiah Zainab Ahmed, assured full funding of the project for delivery at a targeted timeline.
She commended the NNPC and the contractors for the commitment and quality of the job done so far with the project.
“I have seen a very high level of work that has been done and excellent quality, I can see the potential of what will happen to the cities that the project is passing.
” It is going to bring huge businesses and employ a lot of people, already the project is employing people at the level the work is done so far.
” This project is assured in terms of funding, we already secured a loan from China Eximbank of 2.5 billion dollars, the financing has been closed, all that is done now is disbursements for the contractors to continue doing their work,” she said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the project symbolises transformation and revolution for development.
” This project will create a corridor of opportunities for Nigeria and drive a lot of development. We just came back from Kano and seen what gas is already doing, a lot of factories are coming up.
” A lot of factories closed down because of the high cost of energy and running on diesel is unsustainable but with this now, it will be cheaper and cleaner and a lot of businesses will spring up around here.
The AKK Gas Pipeline is a pipeline planned to transport natural gas from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State to Kano, in Kano State, through several states and urban centers, as part of the Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline.
Upon completion, the project will enable the injection of 2.2bscf/d of gas into the domestic market and facilitate an additional power generation capacity of 3,600MW.
RN