Lekki Intl’ airport: Lagos opens fresh discussions with prospective investors

Lagos has opened fresh discussions with investors to take up the construction of the proposed Lekki International Airport.   

The first phase of  the modular airport was proposed for $450 million. Baring any new changes, the state government would provide the land, while the investors would undertake the construction of the airport on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Manage (DBFOM) arrangement.

It was designed to cater for wide-body, double-deck, four engine aircraft which have capacity for up to 500 seats, such as the Airbus A380, making it a Code F compliant airport with capacity for two million passengers per annum for a start.

The fresh discussions come after a process that was building up to selecting a preferred bidder for the project collapsed three years ago. The airport is being sited on a 3,000 hectare piece of land off the Lekki-Epe corridor; about 10km from the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) where the site once cleared, has turned to thick bush.

Rotimi Ogunleye, the state commissioner for Commerce and Industry, told BusinessDay that the process of selecting investors for the airport is evolving afresh and that government is determined to get it off the ground.

“Discussion is ongoing with a number of prospective investors who have expressed interest in the airport. The government is doing a painstaking selection process to pinpoint investors with the necessary pedigree and wherewithal to deliver on the project as conceived,” said Ogunleye.

According to the commissioner, the airport is to complement the LFTZ where manufacturing activities have begun, complemented by the overhaul of security systems around the axis in the aftermath of October 12, 2015 civil unrest that claimed the life of Tajudeen Disu, former managing director of Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited.

BusinessDay had earlier reported that investors banked on to get the project off the ground rescinded and pulled out of discussions three years ago. Since then, the Lagos State Government had been unable to talk new investors into the project, in spite of several foreign trips and trade exhibitions embarked on by the previous government.

If it comes into being, the airport will lessen pressure on the ageing federally-owned Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, and serve the fast growing residential cum industrial Lekki hub, where several multi-billion dollar investments are springing up, including the LFTZ, Lekki Deep Seaport and Dangote’s 650,000bpd refinery, among others.

Four rated firms had been working with Lagos State as consultants on the airport project. They include Arup, a firm of consultant engineers, designers, planners and technical specialists; Norton Rose Fulbright, a global legal firm with 54 offices worldwide; Stanbic IBTC Capital, a member of Standard Bank Group, one of Africa’s largest banking groups, which was appointed sole financial adviser, and Banwo & Ighodalo, a Nigeria based law firm.

It was gathered that the investors pulled out of the project citing inclement political and social environment- thus forcing the state government and its consultants to launch a fresh search for another set of investors.

In 2011, as part of the competitive tender process for the construction of the airport, the Lagos State Government, through its consultants, advertised a Request for Pre-Qualification (RFPQ) and 33 Nigerian and international firms indicated interest to participate in the ambitious project.

The companies had earlier submitted Expression of Interest (EOI), bidding for the project under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, following a public notice advertised by the state government to that effect.

Of the 33 firms, 20 were Nigeria- based. They were to compete against 13 foreign companies, including Munich Airport Germany, Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Limited and Canadian Commercial Corporation, among others.

In 2013, three infrastructure developing consortia of firms, including Bouygues Batiment, Eko Global and Maevis, were again in the race for the first round of bidding for the development of the airport.

Local and foreign representatives of the bidders were in the state for the preliminary processes of the bidding and held talks with the government and its team of consultants to the project.

They also visited the site for physical inspection. The preferred bidder was expected to be announced in April 2014, while the signing of a concession agreement and project documents was to take place in June 2014, but this was never realised.   

JOSHUA BASSEY