By Onomiguren Agbamu
The Delta State government has said it will advance electric supply to rural communities in the state with a view of improving livelihoods.
The State Government disclosed this through the Commissioner for Economy Planning, Mr. Sonny Ekedayen in Asaba.
The Commissioner said the state government, in collaboration with the National Rural Electrification Agency, took the step as an additional measure to address electric power strategies with a view to transitioning to a more reliable, cost-efficient energy.
He said, the recent meeting held in Abuja was at the instance of the National Rural Electrification Agency, which before now had also had such round table discussions with other state governments
He maintained that Delta State was number 14 on the list with abundant peculiarities and strong points for investors.
According to him, “Delta happens to be one of those states with an enormous advantage because we are, like, sitting on the largest gas reserve as a state in the country.”
He continued, “And aside from that, we’re also lucky to have a good amount of sunshine, which in effect is also making this whole option attractive and a very viable option for us to assist it.
“So, as a responsible government, we’re looking at delivering electricity service to our people at the most cost-effective price using the variant of energy mix; it could rather be gas-powered, fossil, or solar. But in this case of the Rural Electrification, they are set up such that their position is to attract private sector investors in the renewable energy space.”
“But for those rural communities, it is best they serve with solar mini-grid options, which was what the National Rural Electrification Agency was trying to canvas, and that the state government will do anything that will benefit the people and also help to improve the standard of living.”
The Commissioner noted that investors are coming with their money to provide those facilities for people in those villages, and with centralized solar farms.
He noted that the State Government is only providing those enabling environments for the investors to have enough confidence to want to deploy their resources in those communities in our state.
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