By Rotimi Ojomoyela

THE Ekiti State government, yesterday, said the State Independent Power Project, IPP, has commenced operation with test running as part of efforts at addressing the shortage of electricity supply to the state.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr Taiwo Olatunbosun, who made this known during a facility tour of the Power Plant Station in Ado Ekiti, said that the project initiated by the immediate past administration of Dr Kayode Fayemi and completed by Governor Biodun Oyebanji was one in the series of interventions to address inherent challenges in electricity supply to the State.

Olatunbosun stressed that the IPP is currently guaranteeing uninterrupted power supply to the Governor’s Office, Government House, State Secretariat Complex, House of Assembly Complex, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, EKSUTH, and streetlights along major roads in the metropolis among others.

According to him, the development is geared to boost industrialization and socio-economic development as well as enhance good governance, noting that doing away with the hitherto ubiquitous generators with the attendant huge cost of diesel and environmental pollution used to power public facilities like streetlights and government offices would block a lot of wastages.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Prof. Bolaji Aluko said that the project had been tested successfully for two weeks with 700kw distributed so far out of 3.5 megawatts and room for expansion.