Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project will be completed and commissioned by the first half of next year, the Chairman of Oilserv Nigeria Limited, Mr Emeka Okwuosa, has said.
Mr Okwuosa, during an inspection of the project, explained that the job would be completed as stipulated in an agreement between his company and the federal government.
“We want to assure you sure very clearly that this project will be delivered in line with the schedule and with top quality.
“The percentage of work that has been done, putting it in perspectives, normally in this project you do engineering design, procurement of materials, and then the construction but because of the fact that procurement will take time to happen. When pipes are ordered they will mill the pipes that have.
“So, we started preconstruction work, and it is a process, but if you put it together we are close to 10 per cent of the entire project, but it will speed up as soon as we have our line pipes,” he said.
He disclosed that there has not been a major security threat to the project in the community, adding that, “We have come a long way and we always have a security procedure, and that procedure is always based on strategy and plan. It is stated clearly the areas we are operating in and the situation.
“We do a scan to know what the issues are and based on that we deploy the right security. We are working in the middle of the bush and we don’t have a problem and we are doing what is necessary.
“The major aspect of that security is being in tandem with the community and work closely with the community and that is the first line of security.”
According to him, materials and staff for the project were sourced from Nigeria in support of local content.
“Over here, we employ locals as we move to the community and empower them as sub-contractors and this is a testimony to the development of local content.
“Oilserve is a representative of local content from engineering, procurement and construction. The things we have to buy overseas, of course, are things we cannot manufacture here.
“We are abiding by it, the materials and vehicles inclusive so clearly local content is exemplified,” he added.
The AKK Gas Pipeline is a plan to transport natural gas from Ajaokuta, in Kogi State to Kano State, as part of the Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline. Upon completion, the project will enable the injection of 2.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (scf/d) of gas into the domestic market and facilitate an additional power generation capacity of 3,600 megawatts (MW). Construction of the project commenced in July 2020.
