The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline project in Nigeria is to be implemented following the approval of a $2.6bn Chinese loan, according to Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Mele Kyari.
The funds will be disbursed by the Bank of China and Sinosure, a Chinese export and credit insurance corporation.
The two institutions are set to fund 85 percent of the entire project costs while the Federal Government, represented by NNPC, will provide the remaining 15 percent, through equity.
On implementation of the project, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline project was flagged off in July this year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mele Kyari announced that at the moment, the project, which covers a distance of over 600 kilometres, is about 15 percent complete and they are certain to deliver it on schedule.
“Despite the slowdown in economic activities, this project has not stopped even for a single day since it started about five months ago. We believe that we shall complete it within the stipulated time frame and within the estimated costs,” emphasised the NNPC Group Managing Director.
The project is being executed in three phases. The first phase covers a distance of 200 kilometres between Ajaokuta and Abuja, while the second and the third phases cover a distance of 193 kilometres and 221 kilometres, from Abuja to Kaduna, and from Kaduna to Kano respectively.
Brentex/China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau-CPP Consortia and Oilserve/China First Highway Engineering Company-CFHEC Consortia were announced as the Engineering Procurement and Construction contractors for the project.
Objectively, the project, which is reputed to be the single biggest gas pipeline project in the country, is expected to transport about 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the delta to power plants in the south of the country.
The pipeline is set to eventually extend to the North Africa region.
Source: Crystal Facts
