Maikanti Baru, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has directed the Chinese consortium and the NNPC project team to ensure timely finalisation of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline project that aims to enable connectivity between the East, West and North Africa
The Chinese consortium is made up of Bank of China and Sinosure. Baru said this during his visit to Dubai, the UAE, to discuss the speedy execution of the pipeline project.
President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to attend the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit from 1-4 September 2018 in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The AKK Project will be top on the President’s agenda.
The NNPC had earlier clarified that the execution of the AKK gas pipeline project is progressing under the original concept of 100 per cent contractor financing model contrary to some media report of a possible resort to “proceed of gas tariffs” as new means of funding because of the purported collapse of negotiation with Chinese lenders.
The corporation noted that the successful conclusion of the contractor financing terms would pave way for the historic ground-breaking ceremony which would take place after the conclusion of the front-end activities.
Already the corporation had concluded the vital front-end engineering design (FEED) and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report while work on the detailed engineering design is nearing conclusion.
Upon completion within a projected 24-month window, the NNPC stated that the AKK gas pipeline would enable connectivity between the East, West and North Africa, which is currently non-existent.
The project is also expected to enable gas supply and utilisation to major commercial centres in the northern corridor of Nigeria with the attendant positive spin-off on power generation and industrial growth.
