11th October, 2019
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has assured Gombe residents of improved power supply, following the resumption of work at the Billiri Power Sub-Station.
Mr Nasiru Jibrin, Assistant General Manager in charge of Transmission, Gombe Sub-Regional Office, gave the assurance in Gombe on Friday.
Jibrin said that when the brand new 2×60MVA 132/33kV power station in Billiri was completed, power supply would enhance drastically.
According to him, all assessment necessary have been done following the revocation of the contract as a result of prolonged delay by the contractor handling the project.
He said the project ought to have been completed but delay by the contractor had stalled work on the power substation.
He stated that the TCN had revoked the contract and may either reassign to the contractor or hand over the project to its in-house engineers to complete the work.
“All the assessments that needed to be carried out have been done and I can assure residents of Gombe that the company has good plans with regards the power substation in Billiri.
“It is a new sub-station and when it comes on stream, it will help in boosting power supply in the state as over four local government areas and even some part of the neighbouring states would benefit.
“There was a similar situation in Damaturu,where the station was delayed and we revoked the contract and handed it over to our in-house engineers who delivered the project in three months and its working now.
“The Damaturu station is bigger than the one in Gombe and yet it took three months. So I can tell you that once we start, there is no stopping until we complete the work,” he said.
He hinted that the power station would be able to transmit over 120 megawatts of electricity when completed, adding that such would end the power challenge in the whole of Gombe South and beyond.
While calling on Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) to expand so as to serve the people as soon as the Billiri substation was inaugurated, Jibrin urged JEDC to provide meters to customers across the state.