Rebuilding Distribution for Onitsha: 1,022 Kilometres of Network Across Anambra State — ICC Offshore
This is the largest of the four REA contracts by physical scope: 1,022 kilometres of line, 100 substations and 39,420 metered connections — more line and more connections than the other three programmes individually.
Why Anambra
Onitsha is one of the largest commercial centres in West Africa, anchored by a market that serves trade across Nigeria and into neighbouring countries. Commercial activity on that scale places demands on a distribution network that a rehabilitation programme has to meet directly: load density, load growth, and a customer base for which supply interruption translates immediately into lost trade.
Anambra is also among the most densely populated states in Nigeria. Dense settlement changes the engineering problem — shorter spans, more connections per kilometre, more constrained working corridors, and far higher metering counts per route-kilometre than a rural expansion programme would produce.
Scope Delivered
The project comprised the full design and construction of a distribution network, executed as a single integrated scope:
| Component | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Medium voltage (33 kV / 11 kV) ACSR lines | 562 km |
| MV poles, with accessories | 6,175 |
| IACM | 203 |
| MV/LV substations — 100 prefabricated (12,345 kVA combined capacity) | 100 |
| Low voltage (0.415 kV) AAC lines | 460 km |
| LV poles, with accessories | 10,697 |
| Overhead twisted aluminium cable | 1,220,294 lm |
| Single-phase meters | 33,300 |
| Three-phase meters | 6,120 |
Two features distinguish this scope. The network was built across three voltage levels — 33 kV, 11 kV and 0.415 kV — rather than the two used on the other programmes, reflecting a rehabilitation brief tying into existing infrastructure at multiple points. And the substations were prefabricated units rather than conventional pole-mounted or ground-built installations, a choice that shortens on-site installation time in congested urban areas.
Execution Record
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Proposal submitted | 26 August 2020 |
| Notification of award | 3 December 2020 |
| Works commenced | 25 January 2021 |
| Works completed | 21 July 2023 |
| Certificate of Completion issued | 29 August 2023 |
Total duration from commencement to completion: approximately 30 months — the longest of the four programmes, consistent with its scope. The Agency’s certificate records that all activities were carried out in accordance with the specifications and within the stipulated timeframe, and that the system has operated without significant technical issues since commissioning.
What This Demonstrates
Scale of physical delivery. More than a thousand kilometres of distribution line and nearly 40,000 metered connections in a single contract.
Multi-voltage rehabilitation capability. Working at 33 kV, 11 kV and 0.415 kV within one programme, integrating with existing network assets rather than building in isolation.
Sustained delivery over two and a half years. A 30-month programme requires retained teams, stable supply chains and continuous quality control rather than a single mobilisation and demobilisation.
Metering density. At 39,420 connections against 1,022 route-kilometres, this programme delivered roughly 39 connections per kilometre of line — a customer-connection ratio consistent with dense urban and peri-urban distribution, and the highest across the four contracts.
Political Context and Significance
This section describes the policy and institutional environment surrounding the project. It is written to be factual rather than partisan, and should stay that way: investor material that reads as political advocacy tends to reduce rather than increase confidence.
The project spanned Nigeria’s electricity devolution. Works ran from January 2021 to July 2023. Within that window, two structural changes altered how electricity is governed in Nigeria. On 17 March 2023 the Fifth Alteration to the Constitution moved the national grid system to the Concurrent Legislative List, granting states legislative authority over electricity within their borders. On 10 June 2023 the Electricity Act 2023 was signed, establishing the framework for state electricity markets and state regulatory commissions.
The consequence for this project is direct. The network was completed and certified in the months immediately following that shift — handing Anambra a physical distribution asset at precisely the moment the state acquired the authority to regulate electricity within its own territory. Sub-national electricity markets are built on infrastructure that already exists on the ground; a state entering that regime with a recently rehabilitated 1,022-kilometre network is in a materially different position from one entering it without.
Metering is a political question in Nigeria, not only a technical one. Where customers are unmetered, distribution companies bill on estimate. Estimated billing is among the most persistent sources of public grievance in the Nigerian power sector, and it sits behind repeated regulatory intervention and legislative attention. Delivering 33,300 single-phase and 6,120 three-phase meters addresses that grievance directly for a substantial customer base in and around Onitsha.
Federal capital investment in the South East carries additional weight. The regional allocation of federal infrastructure spending is a long-running subject of public debate in Nigeria, and major federally-funded works in the South East are read in that context. A completed and certified federal distribution programme in Anambra is a data point in that debate regardless of the intention behind it.
The regulatory picture remains live. The devolution settlement is currently contested: a proposed Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill before the National Assembly has drawn objection from state electricity regulators, who characterise it as an attempt to recover powers already devolved, while legislators argue it prevents fragmentation of the national market. Investors should understand that the federal–state regulatory boundary in Nigerian electricity is not settled, and that this affects how distribution assets built under federal contracts may be regulated and operated in future.
Part of a Four-Project Programme
This project is one of four distribution contracts executed by International Consolidated Contractors Offshore SAL for the Rural Electrification Agency between 2020 and 2024:
| State | Contract Reference | Value (₦) | Executed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anambra | REA/C/GO/RFP/138/20 | 14,982,189,523.00 | Jan 2021 – Jul 2023 |
| Cross River (Calabar) | REA/C/GO/RFP/026/21 | 30,222,025,633.60 | May 2021 – May 2023 |
| Borno (Maiduguri) | REA/C/GO/RFP/094/21 | 12,473,941,662.50 | Jun 2021 – Jun 2022 |
| Kogi (Okene) | REA/C/GO/RFP/147/22 | 15,284,911,599.78 | Dec 2022 – May 2024 |
| Total | 72,963,068,418.88 |
Across the four contracts: 2,578 km of distribution line, 325 substations totalling 33.3 MVA, 42,089 poles and 93,732 metered connections.
Notes on Figures
All contract values are stated in Nigerian naira as contracted. US dollar equivalents reflect the rate prevailing at the date of each award; the naira has depreciated substantially across the period covered, so values from different years are not directly comparable and should not be summed in dollars without restating to a common date.
Supporting documentation — the Notification of Award dated 3 December 2020 and the Certificate of Completion dated 29 August 2023, both issued by the Rural Electrification Agency under contract reference REA/C/GO/RFP/138/20 — is available on request.
Business Development · Power & Infrastructure Division
Comments
Post a Comment