Chinese firm wins bid for building largest hydropower station in Nigeria
3/4/2007 16:46
China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), the main constructor of the
Three Gorges project, has won a contract to build the 2600 Megawatt (Mw)
Mambilla plateau hydropower station in Nigeria, the group announced
yesterday.
The US$1.46 billion project is the largest hydroelectric power
station Chinese companies have ever built in Africa, according to the group,
which is based in Yichang city of central China's Hubei Province.
"The group
has the world's advanced dam building and river closure technology. Despite
environmental challenges in Africa and a complex geological structure, we are
confident we can build a Nigerian 'Three Gorges' that will benefit the African
people," said CGGC President Yang Jixue.
Yang met visiting Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 and introduced his company. Obasanjo wrote on his
business card: Welcome to Nigeria, the Mambilla Station is waiting for you, Yang
said.
The dam is being designed and construction is expected to last six
years and nine months, according to the Nigerian federal government.
The
Mambilla station is part of Nigeria's National Integrated Power Plants (NIPP).
The Nigerian government has pumped US$2.5 billion into the NIPP project to
strengthen power transmission infrastructure and the distribution
network.
The Chinese government agreed to build the hydroelectric power
station after China and Nigeria signed big deals at the Beijing Summit of the
second China-Africa Forum in 2006.
Xinhua
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