SALE of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company and the Afam Power Plant, which was put on hold last year received 20 bids, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the General Overseer of the Four-Square Gospel Church and the visitor of the faith based institution, Macpherson University, Felix Meduoye has requested the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, to intervene and save the new school from near total darkness.
BPE said in a statement, that as at the deadline of Tuesday, April 16, 2013 for the submission of bids by prospective investors for the Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Distribution Companies, 20 prospective investors responded.
According to the BPE, a breakdown showed that nine bids were received for Afam Power Plc and 11 for Kaduna Distribution Company.
He said that the BPE had earlier set January 31, 2013 for the submission of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from prospective bidders for the two companies and received 19 applications for Kaduna Disco and 29 applications for Afam Generation Company.
It added: "Consequently, the Bureau, on February 4, 2013, sent Requests for Proposals (RFP) to the 48 prospective bidders", it said.
The BPE disclosed that it has set up a committee to evaluate the process and come out with report.
The Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc were among the 17 Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies that were earlier advertised for sale in December 2010 along with the 15 others that went through a full competitive tender process which culminated in the submission of technical and financial proposals in July 2012.
However, following the rigorous technical evaluation that all bids were subjected to, none of the bids received for Afam Power Plc and Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc scored the minimum 75 per cent required to progress to the financial bid stage. This development compelled the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to order a re-run of the entire transaction, as it was not prepared to settle for a second best.
As a follow-up to a letter earlier written on the subject to the ministry in 2011, the Church's delegation which comprised the university's visitor and the Governing Board, told the minister that all efforts made to check the outage from both Ibadan and Sagamu axis had proved abortive.
He described the situation as very serious, difficult to be borne by a fledging institution, adding also that the neighbouring communities had not fared better.
The Guardian