Posted by From ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja on
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country, was on Monday sold on concession to Abuja Gateway Consortium (AGC) for 25 years at $100.1million.
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country, was on Monday sold on concession to Abuja Gateway Consortium (AGC) for 25 years at $100.1million.
Explaining the details of the offer, the Chief Executive Officer of AGC, Mr Richard Akerele, said that $10 million would be paid up front and AGC would earn 18.1 per cent on gross revenue.
Earlier in the first round, Naira Net Technologies Limited, which later metamorphosed into Abuja Gateway Consortium, had bidded $100. 7 million and to earn 20 per cent of the revenue for the first year. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the privatising agency of the government, had told the firm to reconsider its initial offer and present something that would meet the reserved price of the government.
Gateway Consortium, which is the only qualified bidder, had left behind other four contenders that expressed interests in the enterprise.
They include NIAP Consortium, comprising Airport Consulting, Vienna (Austria), Kiev Airport (Ukraine) and Oteri Holdings (Nigeria); a Nigerian-South African Consortium (South Africa), ABB Nigeria Limited (Nigeria) and Africa Growth Holdings (Nigeria which is based in South Africa); and Naira Net Consortium, comprising Airports Authority of India (India), Naira Net Technologies (Nigeria) and Gritto Constuzion (Italy).
Giving reasons other prospective investors were disqualified, the Director-General of BPE, Dr Irene Chigbue, said that a week to the bid submission date, some political events in Ukraine had resulted in the inability of Kiev Airport (the airport operator in the consortium) to prepare documents necessary to complete the NIAP bid and as a result, NIAP withdrew from the bid process.
She said that Nigeria-South Africa Consortium also could not meet the bid submission deadline, thereby leaving AGC Consortium as the sole bidder.
On the investment plan of AGC, International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is the consultant to BPE, said that the modification of the airport would cost AGC over $50 million for the first five years. Apart from improving the airport hotel, it would install security and construct new international terminal. Also, AGC would build car park with private sector capital export free zone; shopping mall and warehouses, among other things, like duty free shops, one-roof terminal, improvement of airport's runway, lighting system, etc.