Fashola spoke Thursday during his inspection visit to the famous Afam Power Station, built in 1962, in Oyigbo LGA of Rivers state, against the backdrop of his being summoned by the Senate on why work had not commenced on the Bodo-Bonny road and the ministry’s refusal to partner NLNG on the project.

The minister, who was accompanied by the Managing Director of Afam power station, Olumide Obademi, an engineer and other stakeholders, assured that he would honour the invitation of the Senate, but indicated that he had not received the summons, while stressing that the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was committed to constructing the strategic road, thereby ending the dangerous journey by water, capsizing of boats and attack on travellers by sea pirates.

Fashola said: “I will go (to the Senate). I have not received the summons. Bodo-Bonny Road is on our programme. The partnership is on. What we have seen is that there were some issues with the budget. They were resolved last night (Wednesday) at a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly. So that the Federal Government can put its own counterpart funding with the NLNG.

“We are working with the contractor. I met with the contractor last week. People should be patient. We will deliver on the Bodo-Bonny Road. The contract has not been awarded.

“We need to see the final framework, when the contract is awarded. That will not happen, until we have a budget. You cannot award contact without budget. Hopefully, we will start this year.”

The minister also disclosed that there were some issues at the Afam power station, which started out with 20 megawatts, but had grown from a small power station to a very large power station of almost 1,000 megawatts.

He said: “With almost 1,000 megawatts installed, but now a little over 120 megawatts. We are now only able to produce 100 megawatts, which is as a result of failure to maintain over the years. Even the Afam 5 that was built in 2001, maintenance failure really crippled in. There is a lot of power here (Afam Power Station). We want to get the station back to optimum capacity.

“At Afam 3, General Electric (GE) is installing 240 megawatts. All the turbines and equipment needed for the project are already in Nigeria. The Afam community has been wonderful. We have had peace here. Before the end of this year, we should add 240 megawatts to the 100 megawatts from here, as part of our incremental power initiative. We also have another 276 megawatts combined, which will happen in the next 12 to 16 months.

“We are having issue with gas in Afam Power Station. Before Buhari’s government came on board, there had been a lot of debt owed to all the gas companies. They are saying if we do not pay, no more fuel. Gas is our fuel. We also approved the Power Payment Assurance Programme of N701 billion in March. We are telling the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to let us separate the previous debt and create a programme to deal with it under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Programme. Every gas supplied now will be paid for. We currently have 100 megawatts in Afam power station, which we cannot even evacuate, because there is no gas to fire it.

“We want more investors here (Afam Power Station). There is a lot of gas here. General Electric (GE) has come here on the strength of that. We want to encourage the GE project, which was led by President Buhari last year. Work has started. People are employed.”

Faahola also reiterated that President Buhari launched an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which he described as the policy, stressing that the programme to deliver it is the Power Sector Recovery Programme, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council, involving a lot of policies and actions, including payments.

He said: “Government is beginning to implement the programme (in the power sector). Payment Assurance Programme is part of it. My trip to Washington to negotiate with the World Bank is part of it. The constitution of the institutional boards, the new chairman-designate of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which is pending before the Senate, is part of it. The reconstitution of the Rural Electrification Agency is part of it.

“We are beginning to implement all the policy actions and programmes. It is a journey. It is not an event. If you are looking for an event, then you are not looking for power. It is a journey. We will get to many bus stops.”

The minister, while commenting on the alleged neglect of federal roads in Rivers state, noted that the Federal Government was building the Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu dual carriageway, a federal road.

Fashola stated that the reason the Buhari’s administration was reconstructing the Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu expressway was because it was in bad shape, declaring that the government inherited the bad-shaped road.