Economic activities in Asaba
and its environs of Delta State, have taken a downward trend as
electricity supply has plummeted in recent times.
The area which used to be alive with
105 mega watts of electricity now receives 33 mega watts, Asaba Business
District Manager Mr. E. O. Okwara has said.
Investigations by the Nigerian
Tribune revealed that Asaba has remained the only state capital in the country
without a step down from the National grid, as it only relies on the power
extended from Obosi step down in Anambra State even before the creation of the
state.
Load shedding has degenerated to a
such an extent that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) hardly feed up
to 25 per cent of its customers in Asaba metropolis at a time while communities
like Ibusa, Ogwashi-uku and Issele uku etc, hardly get electricity suply once
in two weeks.
Checks by the Nigerian Tribune
also showed that work on the Asaba step down is at a snail-speed and experts
have said “the project may be completed in 2015”.
The Ibusa/Ogwashi-uku powerline,
according to the investigation, is being “intercepted” by an industrial outfit,
thereby throwing over 10 communities into perpetual darkness.
However, the Business Manager Mr
Okwarah has assured consumers that everything was being put in place to ensure
that the light projects around Asaba is completed in order to boost
supply.
Meanwhile, Small and medium scale
operators have called on the Federal Government to fulfill its promise of
improved power supply, in order to ensure that they remain in business.
The Executive Secretary of the
Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Eke Ubiji, made
this disclosure at a one-day policy dialogue on Monday in Lagos.
“Erratic power supply is a major
issue confronting business operations in Nigeria; This is because there are no
visible improvements in power supply.
“This has led to alternative power
supply like the generators which has had an impact on operating costs for
the medium and small-scale enterprises,” he said.
These small-scale businesses are
expected to drive the economy because the government cannot provide the
necessary investments needed to boost the economy and provide jobs.
In a related development, a survey
conducted by NASME on the effects of Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) II on small
business enterprises, revealed that there has been six per cent great
improvement in power supply since introduction of MYTO II in June 2012.
According to the Executive Chairman,
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, “the
challenges confronting the small-scale operators are what I called ‘wrong
classifications’. This is because based on the complaints I receive here today,
it showed that some of the customers who are supposed to be classified as C3
customers are wrongly classified as D2 customers.”
Tribune
No comments:
Post a Comment