Mr Aminu Diko, the Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has said that N12 billion would be required to complete the Lagos Airport road rehabilitation project, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by ICRC Head of Communications, Mrs Deborah Okafor, said Diko made the call when he led a management team on a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.
Diko also said that a private investor had indicated interest in expanding the facility into eight-lane road with flyovers and that the procurement process was ongoing, after which construction would begin.
He also called on the ministry to speed up work on the concession of Nigeriaโs four busiest airports โ Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
Diko advised on the setting up of a Project Delivery Team and a Steering Committee to be chaired by the minister.
โPublic-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are complex and take time to consummate and so there is need to kick-start the process by quickly establishing the project team that would see to the engagement of a transaction adviser to manage the development and procurement stages.
โThis should go hand in hand with the convening of extensive stakeholdersโ consultations to ensure the success of the project in view of resistance to the planned concessions by aviation unions.โ
Sirika, in his response, said that government did not have the required funds to revamp the countryโs infrastructure, and so the ministry would continue to encourage private sector intervention in service provision in the aviation industry.
He said that with a population of over 170 million and a 38 per cent return on investment, Nigeria ranked among the best locations to do business.
Sirika said that the trend around the world was to use other peopleโs money for infrastructure development.
He said there were plans by the ministry to promote the development of cargo airports to be co-located with existing ones and which would be maintained by the private sector.
Sirika said that talks were ongoing with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd, the concessionaire of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Terminal 2, with a view to resolving all pending issues.
