The Federal Government is set to begin the survey and enumeration of people in the various sites of the 3050 Mega Watts Mambilla Hydro Power Project in Taraba State.
The Minister of Power, Sale Maman, disclosed this on Monday at a stakeholder’s sensitisation meeting in Jalingo.
Maman said survey and compensation of the affected people in the host communities were delayed because of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The sensitisation which was aimed at educating stakeholders on the impact of the project to the host communities attracted key stakeholders across the state.
The Minister noted that the project was targeted at delivering the country and her citizens from the challenges of poor power supply.
He explained that the project was designed to put to an end to the imbalance in power supply between the south and the north considering the distance of power supply from Lagos.
While urging the stakeholders of the host communities to support the actualisation of the project, the minister noted that President Muhamadu Buhari was committed in delivering on the Mambilla hydro power project.
The Minister said, “This sensitisation meeting is aimed at providing the host communities of this project and other stakeholders the desired information and galvanise their support as we move to next level of the project implementation.
“We are going to commence survey and enumeration for compensation in that order after the initial delay of the take-off of the exercise caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
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“Since the constitution of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee and the Project Delivery Committee on the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in January this year, a lot of progress has been made.
“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Taraba State Government to enhance project coordination and to facilitate acquiring land titles for the project sites.”
In his remarks, Governor Darius Ishaku expressed optimism that the steps taken by the president would see remarkable progress in the Mambilla Hydro Power Project.
Ishaku, who expressed happiness that the project was coming to reality during his time as governor after 40 years, called on the contractors to avoid the mistakes of the Kanji Dam which he said were creating a lot of challenges to power supply in the country.
The governor solicited the support of the host communities in the maintenance of peace for successful completion of the project.
He said the project would boost job opportunities for the youth and increase agricultural base of Taraba through irrigation farming programme.
Ishaku added that the project would open doors for tourists into the state and boost the internally generated revenue.
