Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) says it has  spent over $1.1 billion on the ongoing construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline and Station project from its cash-flow.

The NNPC Limited General Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari disclosed  this on Monday while  touring  some  of NNPCL project sites in Kogi State..

He was accompanied by some top officials of the NNPC Limited and Oilserv Limited, (Pipelines and Facilities), the contractor of the project.

Kyaria said the company would continue to fund the massive project which it was delivering in phases and has been active even though it did not have third party finance for the project.

“So far, NNPC Ltd has funded over $1.1 billion on the project and to date, none of the project activities is abandoned as reported and we reassure all stakeholders that we have a line of sight to project delivery on schedule.

“NNPC Limited remains highly committed towards the delivery of strategic National infrastructure projects through responsive project delivery, active collaboration with government security agencies and communities as well as deployment of technology for delivering the project.

“This is is one of the most massive projects of proportion value to our country for economic growth. It is a must-deliver project and we have continued to fund in spite of not having third party finance support, we will deliver this project.

“We do not owe a dollar to our contractors, there are over 30 sites that are active today in this project, we are very hopeful and optimistic to deliver this project,” he assured.

The GCEO lamented the loss of some of the site workers due to insecurity and expressed sadness over thier demise. He consoled their families ,saying the company shared in their grief.

Kyari said thstb 70 per cent of the welding work had been completed adding that once welding was completed, it could actually flow gas through the pipeline.

He said on completion, the pipeline would deliver two billon cubic feet of gas, powering industries, powering power plants and creating gas based industries.

He added that  the entire welding work would be completed by the third quarter of 2023 then it would actually energise the pipeline.

Kyari further said that the gas pipeline was projected to support power plants with a total of 3,645 Mega Watts, adding that it would soon begin constrution of Abuja- Kaduna power plants in ernest.

Earlier, Project Manager, Oilserv Ltd ,Steve Nnorom,explained that there were three schematic of the pipeline and station installations which included Brovo, Chalie and Alpha spread segment, that showed progress of the project.

He said they were currently doing full auto welding, completed 73 per cent of its mainland welding works and had done 222 kilo metres remaining 27 kilo metres of welding work to complete.

“We are crossing rivers, railway, existing pipelines. We have other sites where various work activities are ongoing, our target is that concurrently all works will be going on at different spread,” he said

Nnorom disclosed  that the project has been active and fully financed. It has purely 100 per cent Nigerian workers.