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FG seeks N32bn for communications satellite
Everest Amaefule, Abuja
The Federal Government is seeking to raise $250million (about N32billion), from both local and international institutions to complete the financing of the nation’s first communications satellite, dubbed NigComSat-1.
The contract agreement for the construction and inauguration of the satellite was signed between the Federal and the China Great Wall Industries Corporation on December 15, 2004.
Although 20 per cent of the contract cost of $250million has been paid by the Federal Government, other incidental costs have pushed the total costs envisaged to be gulped by the development of the satellite to $300million.
The total cost of the satellite includes the costs of insurance, two-year maintenance, training of personnel as well as the equipment of the ground station to be sited in the Federal Capital Territory.
Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, National Space Research and Development Agency, Prof. Robert Borroffice, confirmed government’s moves in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abuja, on Sunday.
He affirmed that the communications satellite would be delivered by the end of December 2006, ahead of the expected launch in August.
Borroffice said because the communications satellite was a bankable project, it was not necessary to sink government’s funds into it, thus the decision to source for additional funds outside the public sector.
He said, “The communications satellite is a bankable project. It would provide the broadband requirements for most of Africa. Before the construction is completed, we would have marketed 50 per cent of the capacity.
“It has a lifespan of 15 years. The payback period is five years. Even if we extend the payback period to seven years, it means we would reap profit for another eight years.”
A number of international satellite organisations including EADS/ASATRIUM of France, Alenia Spazio and Telespazio of Italy, SSTL of the United Kingdom, ACSAT of the United States of America, Aerospace Export of Russia and IAI of Israel all bidded for the contract before the Chinese Great Wall won the contract.
He said that apart from the lower financial bid of the Chinese firm, another reason that recommended it to the Federal Government was its favourable technology transfer disposition.
Because of the favourable technology transfer clause in the contract, the NASRDA boss said that 50 young Nigerian engineers are currently in China, understudying the construction phase of the project.
He added that these engineers would be responsible for manning the ground station after the satellite must have been put in the orbit in December 2006.
Technical details show that the communications satellite has four bands and forty transponders.
A transponder is a wireless a communications, monitoring, or control device that picks up and automatically responds to an incoming signal. It is a contraction of the words transmitter and responder.
The PUNCH, Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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