Ghanaian, Kenyan companies move to buy Nigerian electricity firms


The bids of Ghana's Volta River Authority and Kenya Electricity Generation Company are among those recently shortlisted by the Bureau of Public Enterprises for the sale of 17 Federal Government-owned power firms.


According to information released by the BPE, the Volta River Authority is bidding for the three hydroelectric power stations in Shiroro, Kainji and Jebba, while KenGen is interested in the Afam, Geregu, Sapele and Ughelli thermal power plants.

The VRA was established by the Volta River Development Act 46 of the Republic of Ghana on April 26, 1961.

Owned by the Ghanaian government, the main purpose of the VRA is to generate and supply electricity for Ghana's needs. It is also responsible for managing the environmental impact of the creation of the Volta Lake on the towns and people bordering the lake.

For 50 years, the VRA has been the sole provider of electrical power for industrial, commercial and domestic use in Ghana.

Starting with a generation capacity of 588 megawatts from the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam, currently, the VRA supplies 2,000MW power from a hydro-thermal mix.

VRA is also expanding its portfolio to take advantage of Ghana gas, wind and solar energy to ensure reliability, sustainability and competitiveness in the West African power market.

The company is also planning to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange. KenGen is government-owned and the leading electric power generation company in Kenya, producing about 80 per cent of electricity consumed in the country. The company utilises various sources to generate electricity, including hydro, geothermal, thermal and wind.

Hydro is the leading source, with an installed capacity of 766.88MW, which is 64.9 per cent of the company's installed capacity. Thus the installed capacity is over 1,000MW.

According to the company's website, on March 20, 2006, the government of Kenya offered 30 per cent of its shareholding in KenGen for sale to the public through an Initial Public Offer. The IPO attracted a historic 236 per cent oversubscription.

The BPE recently shortlisted 525 bids for 17 of the successor companies created out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

According to the BPE, 273 and 272 bids were prequalified for the distribution and generation companies respectively.

Nigeria hopes to complete the sale of the six power plants and 11 distribution firms by the first quarter of next year as part of a multi-billion dollar privatisation plan.

The country is selling four thermal and two hydro power plants and 11 electricity distribution firms as part of a drive to end the crisis that is hindering economic growth.

The Director, BPE, Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa, said recently, "The hope is that by the first quarter of 2012, we will be able to hand over to the investors."

Onagoruwa said that the 207 shortlisted bidders would need to pay a $20,000 fee for each asset they were interested in by July 15 to confirm their intention to bid, adding that final offers would be submitted on November 1 after a due diligence process.

Only around 40 per cent of Nigeria's 150million people currently have access to electricity, making the potential returns for investors in the power sector huge.

Source: http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jun/23/802.html

I have no problem with this. We invest in their countries, why not allow them to invest in our own?

All that matter is their competency.