Geometric power plant will boost industrial activities in Aba, says Otti

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia state, Dr. Alex Otti, has expressed the hope that the completion of Geometric power plant in Aba will help to provide uninterrupted power supply to the commer­cial city and its environs.

Otti made the observation in an interview with newsmen at the project site during an in­spection tour of the facility by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday, adding that the take off of the plant would help to rejuvenate industrial and economic activities in the city.. He said: “This is a good proj­ect and it means a whole lot for Aba and its environs because the day Geometric switches on power, Aba will begin to enjoy 24-hour uninterrupted power supply.

“This will further jumpstart a lot of economic and indus­trial activities in Aba.”

Otti regretted that a lot of small and medium scale enter­prises in the city were unable to operate ‘due to epileptic power supply adding: “So the hope is that as soon as the company comes alive, the industries will come back and employment will be generated.’’ He opined that the boost in economic ac­tivities would help to reduce social tension, while security would be easilymanaged.

Otti, who joined other dig­nitaries in Abia state to wel­come the president, hailed the Federal Government’s promise to intervene in resolving the disagreement between Geo­metric and the Bureau of Pri­vate Enterprise (BPE).

He said that the company had been at loggerheads with BPE over the status of Aba business district, which ought to be carved out as an island for Geometric, but later sold by BPE to Interstate Electric as part of Enugu Disco.

He said government’s in­tervention would enable the company to complete the little work left for the plant to take off.

The former Diamond Bank chief executive officer recalled how the bank intervened in 2011 to ensure that work re­sumed on the project after it suffered a setback due to the global economic recession. He said that he took the project to the board of the bank, when he joined in 2011 and got the bank’s approval “to restart the project again” adding that due to the huge amount involved, he also took the matter to the former Governor of the Cen­tral Bank, (now Emir of Kano) Malam Lamido Sanusi, for fur­ther discussion.