ON POWER PRIVATIZATION BID: Enugu DISCO: NCP committee tips Eastern Electrics

…As 10 out of 11 committee members vote against Interstate Electrics A fresh twist to the power privatisation programme arising from yesterday’s meeting of the Technical Committee of National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has shown that ownership of the Enugu Distribution Company (DISCO) may eventually swing in favour of Eastern Electrics. This would be contrary to the belief that Emeka Offor’s Interstate Electrics, believed to be close to influential personalities in Aso Rock, may clinch the deal. But at the end of the NCP meeting on Tuesday, where 10 out of the 11 members of the committee voted against handing over the DISCO to Interstate, those previously disposed to acquisition of Interstate are beginning to soft pedal. Enugu Distribution Company was won by Interstate Electrics but the company failed to meet the payment deadline of August 21, 2013, raising doubts about its financial, technical and managerial capability to operate the distribution company. Since then, pressures have been mounting from different quarters, particularly from the South East governments that Eastern Electrics be allowed to take over the firm. But only last week, Interstate had cashed in on the 18-day window given to it to pay its outstanding 75 per cent balance. It was, however, gathered that the Technical sub-Committee of the National Council for Privatisation (NCP) which met on Tuesday, September 9, 2013 to deliberate on issues relating to Enugu DISCO, voted against handing over the firm to Interstate Electrics. Their argument, according to sources, privy to the deliberation, was that Enugu DISCO was too crucial to be left in the hands of a company that had to take advantage of the 18 days window to make payment after 10 other competitors had closed their deals. “The members of the Technical Committee reasoned that if the company had to take advantage of an extension window to make payment, then it may not be able to manage the DISCO if it is eventually given the opportunity. If at this stage they are not able to meet payment deadline, the members reasoned that they may not be able to manage the infrastructure well. The DISCO is very crucial to the entire South East and the members believe that it is only a competent company that can manage it and deliver, the source said. It was gathered that a meeting of the NCP would be convened as soon as the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, returns from his trip abroad to deliberate on the outcome of the meeting of the Technical Committee before ratifying it. CREDIT: SUN NEWS