The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said it will collaborate with the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) to better the lot of host communities of Hydro-Power Plants in the country.
Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A.Okoh who made the pledge in Abuja on Wednesday, when members of the commission paid a courtesy visit to the Bureau, said the BPE would ensure that operators of the Hydro-Power Plants execute their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the benefit of the host communities.
Okoh who was represented by the Director, Energy at the Bureau, Mr. Yunana J. Malo, expressed delight at the inauguration of the commission by the Federal Government to resolve environmental, economic and social challenges of host communities of Hydro-Power Plants.
On the request by the Commission for the payment of 10 percent royalty accruable to it as enshrined in the law setting up HYPPADEC, the Director General said both agencies would look at possible ways to handle the issue, noting that all revenues generated by the Bureau in the sale of public assets were usually transmitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federal Government. He added that as a reform agency, the Bureau is at all times, under constant scrutiny by relevant Federal government agencies.
Earlier, the Managing Director of the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa had said the visit was to find ways to get the 10 percent royalty statutorily enshrined in its statute so that the Commission could develop host communities where the Hydro plants were located.
He said BPE as the agency that supervised the concession of the Hydro plants; it was necessary for the visit to mutually agree on the way forward on the royalty issue as mere correspondences on the matter would not suffice.
Yelwa called for a tripartite meeting involving the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) and the Generation Companies (GENCOS) to mutually agree on the way forward on the matter.