Hope rises for Taraba-based $5.8bn Mambilla hydro project On By Obas Esiedesa WHEN in November 2017, the Federal Government formally signed a $5.8 billion contract for the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State, it was seen as a watershed in the long history of the project that was billed to become Nigeria’s largest electricity producer with an installed capacity of 3,050 megawatts. With the engineering, procurement and construction, EPC, contracts awarded to a consortium of Chinese companies, led by China Gezhouba Group, 85 percent of the financing for the project was to be provided by the China Exim Bank, while the Federal Government was expected to bear 15 percent of the cost. Despite the contracts agreement, work on the project has been delayed following legal issues and other bureaucratic bottlenecks.