The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, has said steady progress is being recorded under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) Project, with key construction milestones already achieved across several project sites.
The DARES project is a $750m World Bank initiative in Nigeria designed to provide new or improved electricity access to over 17.5 million people.
Launched to succeed the Nigeria Electrification Project, it aims to bridge the energy gap by deploying solar mini-grids and home systems, replacing over 280,000 polluting generators, and supporting rural and peri-urban businesses.
In a statement on Tuesday, Aliyu disclosed that work under the DARES Project was advancing in line with implementation timelines, particularly at locations being handled by a company, Al Alfuttaim Nigeria Limited, where foundational stages for solar infrastructure deployment have been completed in multiple clusters.
According to him, the contractor has successfully completed the casting of mounting support bases in four out of its ten project locations, marking a critical stage in the development of decentralised renewable energy systems.
He described the casting of mounting support bases as an important foundation step that moves the affected sites closer to full solar infrastructure deployment. Providing a breakdown of progress across the benefiting communities, the REA boss said that in Mekiya, located in the Gabasawa Local Government Area of Kano State, mounting support bases had been completed across seven clusters.
