Posted by The planned removal of more than 1000 unlawful structures on electricity lines with high tension in Kano for the rebuilding work of power lines from Kaduna to Kano has been forewarned against by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, or TCN.
Muhammad Kamaru Bello, the TCN Assistant General Manager, told reporters on Friday that the state’s only energy supply line, which runs from Kaduna to Kano, was put in place 50 years ago.
“The DanAgundi Substation was built 50 years ago with an 80 megawatt capacity, but it is currently working at more over 280 megawatts, so they are reconducting the entire facility to match the necessary capacity,” he stated.
He explained that despite paying N1.5 billion in compensation whereas Kano only paid N500 million on DanAgundi to the Rimin Zakara substation, the majority of their rights of way were still infringed upon.
There would be no going back on that, he insisted, adding that all other contractual requirements had been fulfilled in full and that the reconstruction work on the second power lines from Kaduna to Kano will start in the coming days.
Bello disputed the claim that almost 20,000 homes had been designated for demolition, claiming that just 1,000 homes and unfinished structures were slated for demolition between DanAgundi and Kumbosto power substations.
“Today in the entirety of Nigeria, Kano is the only state that experiences problems with a full power supply, and this is due to the fact that all of the current power lines were constructed in the last 50 to 60 years, are extremely dated, and urgently require removal and reconstruction,” he continued.
So what are they talking about? “Let me remind those who insist that we must pay compensation before they quit their homes that TCN doesn’t pay compensation twice, we paid earlier and on DanAgundi to Rimin Zakara substations we paid N1.5 billion while Kano paid N500 million.”
He explained that Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, and some areas of Bauchi would benefit from the projects.