FG: Ajaokuta power plant set to begin operations

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, has said the federal government is determined to put into operation the thermal power plant and the light section mill of the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited.

Sada said this when he received the Managing  Director, Reprom Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. AttahAchimugu, who led the firm's management team and the foreign technical partners on working visit to the minister, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head of Public Relations in the ministry, Mr. Marshal Gundu.

Reprom Company Nigeria had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ASCL in March 2013 for a billet conversion project to put into operation the thermal power plant and light section mill at Ajaokuta.

Sada said it was cheering to note that work had reached an advanced stage to kick-start the thermal power plant's operation and the light section mill of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

The minister added that putting the plants into operation had prospects for the industrialisation of the country and that every Nigerian was looking forward to the realisation of that vision.

Sada observed that RCNL and its foreign technical partners were worthy partners to achieve the objective of the establishment of ASCL because they understood the technology of the integrated steel plant.

The minister advised the company to fast-track the implementation and completion of the Memorandum of Understanding on the steel plant in good time.

He added that since every Nigerian was passionate about the commencement of operation of ASCL towards the industrial development of the nation, Reprom should keep the citizens abreast of what it was doing at the plant from time to time.