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Buyers pledge to pay 75% balance
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Reserved bidders may take over
WEDNESDAY
is the deadline for the preferred winners of the country’s electricity
distribution companies to pay the required 75 per cent balance amid anxiety over
a seeming impasse between government and the buyers.
The buyers last week gave strong indications that the date would not be
possible, urging government to consider a further shift. Going by the pleas
tendered by the buyers, delay in labour settlement makes the matter more
serious, as lenders who had hitherto given them assurances of mobilising funds
are now skeptical.
In a twist to its earlier stance, the Roundtable of Distribution Companies
(Discos), a body of private investors, said Tuesday that it was working to
ensure compliance.
Its Chairman, Dr. Ransom Owan, told The Guardian Tuesday that efforts were being
made to pay up.
On its part, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said on Monday that it would
not extend today’s deadline for the payment of the outstanding 75 per cent of
the bid prices for the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (PHCN) by the preferred bidders.
BPE said if they failed to pay by 5.00 p.m. today, they would lose the bids,
while the reserved bidders would be invited to take over the assets.
The Head of Public Communications at BPE, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, said the agency
did not have the power to extend the payment deadline.
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