Nigeria has confirmed that Chinese firm China Civil Engineering Corp. will help construct a $5.8 billion hydropower plant in the country’s eastern Mambila region with a capacity to generate 3,050 megawatts.
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola also said that construction is expected to take approximately six years due to the extensive nature of the scope of work.
“The scope of works are very extensive,” Fashola said. The project requires the construction of four dams and includes 700 kilometers (435 miles) of transmission lines. One of the dams will be 150 meters high, two will be 70 meters and the smallest 50 meters, he said.
The minister expressed confidence that the hydropower project will help Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the Paris agreement by inclining towards renewable energy.
Read:Chinese firm to construct major hydropower station in Angola
The Export-Import Bank of China will provide 85 percent of the funding for the project.
Despite a huge population that now stands at more than 180 million people Nigeria generates about 4,000 megawatts, a sharp contrast to South Africa which has a third of the population and generates more than 40,000 megawatts of electricity.
Nigeria sees increased power generation capacity as a major catalyst to boost economic growth in the face of its worst performance in a quarter of a century after suffering a drop in revenue from oil its main economic mainstay.