The West African Power Pool (WAPP) has set 2025 as a new date for the completion of the North Core Project.
The Secretary General of the body, Mr. Apollinaire Ki, disclosed this while addressing journalist after declaring open the 7th Meeting of its Joint Supervision Committee in charge of the implementation of the project in Abuja, Nigeria.
He explained that the project which was earlier scheduled for completion 2024 is now 2025 due to insecurity and other challenges.
“we hope to complete it in three years, so we may be able to complete it in 2025″
According to him, “the official groundbreaking ceremony of the WAPP North Core Project took place in Niamey in 2022, at the Gorou Banda substation”
” It is a collaborative effort between the five West African States of Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo”
“The project was made up of about 900 kilometres of 330 kV transmission line with five associated substations that runs through those countries aimed to address the substantial electricity supply-demand imbalance within the ECOWAS region” He said.
He further stated that, WAPP, a specialised agency of ECOWAS was established in 1999 at the 22nd summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, with a mandate to ensure the promotion and development of power generation and transmission facilities, as well as the coordination of power trade between member States.
Mr. Apollinaire Ki urged the JSC to engage stakeholders tackle the security challenges being experienced in some of the intervention areas, to enable the completion of the 330kV North Core Interconnection Project on time.
“even though significant progress had been made in the implementation of the project, much is yet to be done, hence the need to take decisive steps towards the materialisation of the project through engagement of stakeholders while focusing on the security challenges in the project intervention areas” .
“Security challenges constitute a threat to achievement of the objectives; construction work cannot go on without overcoming these security challenges. The commitment of relevant countries in this area is key in the completion of the project,” He emphasised
Mr Apollinaire Ki who put the project costs at nearly US$700 million said the initial budget was about US$600 million, but increased due to some change in the scope of the project.
According to him, the 7th meeting of the JSC is specifically dedicated to the adoption of the annual plan as well as the US$156 million proposed budget for 2024 which is expected to complete the project in Nigeria and Benin.
“The 2024 budget submitted is $156 million and it will enable the completion of the work in Nigeria and Benin and to make more progress at the level of Niger and Burkina Faso”
“Against this backdrop I have no doubt that today’s deliberation will enable you to have the required guidance in the effort towards the completion of the project,” he added.
While delivering his welcome address earlier, the WAPP Executive Board Chairman and Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria TCN who played host to JSC#7, Sule Abdulaziz, described the North Core Project as a beacon of hope for the underserved and unserved communities in the affected countries by unlocking full potential aimed at bridging the gap in electricity access.
“It’s about bringing power to Schools, Clinics, and businesses that have long operated in the shadow of energy scarcity,” he stressed.
Engr Abdulaziz who shed light on journey of the project so far noted that beyond the transmission lines and the five substations, cutting-edge technologies like SCADA systems and fiber optics cables are being deployed along the lines.
He expressed gratitude to governments of member States, individuals and corporate organisations, including technical and financial partners, particularly the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union and the French Development Agency for their support.
Olusola Akintonde
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