Prof. Berth Nnaji, the Chairman, Geometric Power Company, Aba, says the payment of the $26 million to Enugu DisCo will be completed in September.
Nnaji disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of a meeting of the Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) in Aba.
The payment which, he said, had been settled on paper, will be fully and finally completed with the accompanying transactions in September to enable Geometric take over power supply in Aba.
In a deal brokered by the former Minister for Power, Babatunde Fashola, Geometric was asked to pay $26 million to Enugu DisCo, being the money it paid to acquire the licence to supply power to Aba.
Nnaji said: “The previous government gave the ring fence which was concessioned to the owners of Enugu Disco.
“Let’s call it a mistake because we went to court and we won and eventually, the government mediated and it was to be returned to us.
“But we have to refund what the people who bought it paid, which is what we’ve spent time trying to do.
“The project stalled because we couldn’t inject the power to industries and commercial outfits for nearly seven years now.
“But we are ready now to start and we came to talk to the business community in Aba that we are getting ready to start and the relationship we need to have with the business enterprises is what we are here to discuss.
“It has been a very tortuous journey, but finally we are here.
“It’s settled on paper but within the next month (September) or so it will be finally settled. That is when the actual payment will take place.”
He said that Geometric was in the process of developing the first Integrated Power Project in Nigeria through its Aba business project.
He said the company’s intention was to deliver absolute, reliable electricity to industries, commercial outfits and residential areas of Aba and its environs.
Nnaji said that the project spanned nine out of the 17 local government areas of Abia, including Isiala-Ngwa North and Isiala-Ngwa South.
Others were Osisioma, Ugwunagbo, Obingwa, Ukwa East, Ukwa West, Aba North and Aba South.
He said that the company had built 140 megawatts of power plant in Aba and additional four sub-stations to the three existing ones.
He said the first step after the payment would be to rebuild the Aba electricity network in five months, hoping that power supply would commmence in March 2020.
Nnaji said that Geometric would check the turbines and establish their warranty and initiate other activities to get the power structure as planned, beginning from September.
He said that free smart meters would be given to customers to enable them to pay for what they consumed.
He said that there would be special arrangement for industries to own their own industrial meters.
Nnaji said: “We are telling the public that the years of unreliable power will soon end because they will begin to see us rehabilitating the infrastructure from next month.
“And by the first quarter of next year, they’ll begin to have reliable electricity here in Aba.”
The President of ACCIMA, Andy Obasi, said that Aba had long awaited the coming of Geometric.
Obasi described the company as a catalyst that would trigger off industrial revolution the commercial city.
