The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) says it would work with the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) to better the lot of host communities of Hydro-Power Plants in the country.
The Director General of BPE, Alex Okoh who gave the pledge in Abuja on Wednesday when members of the Commission visited the Bureau in Abuja.
Okoh said the BPE would ensure that operators of the Hydro-Power Plants executed their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the benefit of the host communities.
Okoh who was represented by the Director, Energy at the Bureau, Yunana 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.
He said 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.
The DG said as a reform agency, the Bureau was 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 Yelwa 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.
Yelwa 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.
