By Edith Ike-Eboh
No fewer than 96 companies have indicated interest in the rehabilitation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) downstream infrastructure.
The public opening of the bid was held virtually in Abuja, on Thursday.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), Mrs Ada Oyetunde, said that the exercise was in conformity with the mandate of the Federal Government to prioritise the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure across the country.
She listed the facilities that would be rehabilitated by successful bidders to include critical pipelines for crude oil supply to the refineries and evacuation of refined products, depots, and terminals.
Oyetunde said that the objective was to get them ready to support the refineries when they become operational after their rehabilitation.
“An open tender for pre-qualification of interested companies was published in August 2020 in the national dailies, for the rehabilitation of NNPC downstream critical pipelines and associated depots and terminal infrastructure through Finance Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) to cover the 4 lots.
“The four lots are Lot 1: Port Harcourt Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 2: Warri Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 3: Kaduna Refinery related infrastructure and Lot 4: System 2B related infrastructure,” she said.
The NPSC boss said that the BOT arrangement would provide a reliable pipeline network and automated storage facilities for effective crude feed, product storage and evacuation from the nation’s refineries post-revamp through an open access model.
This, she added, would charge market reflective prices and tariffs to recover the investment.
Earlier, the Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, Mrs Aisha Katagum, commended the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for providing guidance for the project.
She assured the bidding firms of a fair, equitable and transparent selection process.
Observers at the public bid opening exercise were representatives of the ICRC, BPP, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Civil Liberties Organisations. (NAN)
