About 96 bids have been received from various firms interested in the repairs of some downstream sector facilities in the petroleum industry.
The firms are interest in rehabilitating some critical infrastructures belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The facilities include some critical oil and gas pipelines, petroleum products depots and terminals.
The NNPC spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja said the contracts would be executed using the build, operate and transfer (BOT) financing model.
Mr Obateru said the high interest shown by the bidders was as a result of the culture of transparency, accountability and performance excellence (TAPE) exhibited under the current NNPC management.
The bids opening exercise held virtually at the NNPC Towers, Abuja was for the pre-qualification of the companies whose bids were received at the close of the deadline for the submission of bids.
Mr Obateru said the bids opening exercise was in keeping with the NNPC management’s commitment to transparency and accountability in all its operational processes and transactions.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC), Ada Oyetunde, said the bids opening exercise was in conformity with the mandate of the Federal Government to prioritize the rehabilitation of critical downstream infrastructure across the country.
Mrs Oyetunde listed the facilities to be rehabilitated by successful bidders to include critical pipelines supplying crude oil to the refineries.
They also include pipelines infrastructures used in the evacuation of refined products and distribution to storage depots, and terminals.
She said the objective of the contracting process was to get the facilities ready to support the refineries when they become operational after their rehabilitation.
Since August 2020, the NNPC published an open tender in the national dailies inviting qualified contractors to submit bids for pre-qualification for selection for award of the contracts.
The rehabilitation of critical NNPC downstream pipelines and associated depots and terminal infrastructure through Finance BOT to cover the 4 lots, namely: Lot 1: Port Harcourt Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 2: Warri Refinery related infrastructure, Lot 3: Kaduna Refinery related infrastructure and Lot 4: System 2B related infrastructure, Mrs. Oyetunde said.
The NPSC boss said that the BOT arrangement would provide a reliable pipeline network and automated storage facilities for effective crude feed, product storage and evacuation from the nation’s refineries post-revamp through an open access model and charge market reflective prices and tariffs to recover the investment.
In her speech, the Group General Manager, Supply Chain Management, Aisha Katagum, commended the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for providing guidance for the project and assured the bidding firms of a fair, equitable and transparent selection process.
The bid opening exercise was witnessed by representatives of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and civil society groups.
At the end of the event, the 96 companies that submitted bids for the rehabilitation projects were presented online.
