Ahead of May 29 handover to a new administration the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on highlighted progress made so far on the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Stations Project which was flagged off on 30th of June 2020.

NNPCL said it has funded over $1.1Bn on the project and to date so far reassuring the stakeholders that the project is well on course to deliver on schedule.

“Since the flag-off of the project by His Excellency, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2020, we have recorded significant feats and we are pleased to update the Nation that the project is well on course to deliver on schedule.

“Overall Engineering Design for the linear section of the two segments of the project stands at 93.48%. The Overall Procurement for the linear section for the two segments is at 88%

“94% of the total line pipes have been manufactured and 90% already in-country.

“Construction activities on both segments are ongoing. We have completed 400km of the linear section/mainline welding, representing 68% of ROW from Ajaokuta in Kogi state to Kano.

“Also, on-going are several special constructions like Direct Pipe Installation (DPI) across the River Niger in Kogi state and other Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) across River Robo, Pai and Shika River in Zaria, Kaduna State.

“Also, several back-end activities have commenced including field joint coating, trenching and lowering, temporary cathodic protection and talks of pre-commissioning of some sections have equally commenced” stated NNPCL is a statement put out on Monday.

The Scope of Work for the Project, according to NNPC, includes the construction of a 40″ × 614KM linear section from Ajaokuta in Kogi State traversing FCT, Niger and Kaduna States and terminating in Kano as well as 24″ × 15KM Spur Line to Abuja Terminal Gas Station. It also includes the construction of Four (4) Terminal Gas Stations, 22 Block Valve Stations, and Intermediate Pigging Stations with other ancillary facilities.

The Pipeline has the capacity to transport Two Billion Standard Cubic Feet of Natural Gas Per Day to Three proposed Independent Power Plants in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, and other Gas-Based Industries as well as other identified and proposed commercial off-takers along the entire pipeline route.

The project has the potential of greatly improving the Nation’s Power Generation Capacity and the economy as a whole through Industrialization as well as other economic uses. (Daily Independent)