By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa
The Acting Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Nestor Binabo has directed the State Ministry of Energy to acquire more land within two weeks to expand the operations of the Glory Power Company Limited at Imiringi in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state to boost electricity supply.

The Glory Power Company Limited oversees the state independent power plant at Imiringi which newly installed turbine is expected to under go commissioning test next month.

Commissioner of Health, Dr. Benson Dadigi (left) explaining a point to the Ag. Governor of Bayelsa State, Rt. Hon. Nestor Binabo(centre) during an unscheduled inspection visit to the Melford Okilo Memorial Hospital under construction in Yenagoa, while Hon. Walaman Igurubia of the State House of Assembly (right) looks on.

Vanguard further learnt that two additional turbines are to be installed in the expanded premises by the government to boost the energy need of the state.

Chief Binabo gave the directive when he paid an unscheduled visit to the company to ascertain the level of job done on the installation of a new turbine at the Imiringi Power Station.

According to the Acting Governor, the directive was necessitated by the need to decongest the station as well as enhance its service delivery.

Binabo stated that government will give the station the necessary support with a view to boosting electricity supply in the state.

In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Energy, Mr. Maxwell Oko, who conducted the Ag Governor round the facility, noted that the project has suffered a number of setbacks, adding that the present administration is the fourth that would be handling it.

He, however, explained that the Chief Engineer of the contracting firm, who left for Russia over the weekend, gave strong assurances that the project would be ready for commissioning by the later part of next month.

According to the Commissioner, testing is going on simultaneously with the installation to ensure that everything was ready before the date of commissioning.

Areas inspected include the control room, transformers and the land earmarked for acquisition.