From Uche Usim, Abuja
The planned concession of Nigerian airports to private sector players gained a milestone on Wednesday as the Ministry of Aviation formally unveiled preferred bidders for Lagos, Abuja and Kano terminals, signifying the end of the Request for Proposals (RFP) phase of the Nigeria Airports Concession Programme (NACP). At a media briefing in Abuja, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the bidders emerged after passing through set criteria designed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and guided by the national policy of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“The RFP which came to a close on September 19, 2022 has seen the emergence of preferred and reserve bidders for three out of four Airports and Cargo Terminals as approved for concession under the programme”, he said.
According to him, the preferred bidder for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, is Corporacion America Airports Consortium, while ENL Consortium has also been selected as the reserve bidder for NAIA.
Moreso, the preferred bidder for Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, is TAV/NAHCO/PROJECT PLANET LIMITED(PPL) Consortium and Sifax/Changi Consortium has also been selected as the reserve bidder.
Again, the preferred bidder for Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, is Corporacion America Airports Consortium, while there are no reserve bidders for MAKIA as at the time of the announcement. Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Port Harcourt, did not receive any proposals as of the RFP deadline close and as such has not had preferred and reserve bidders attached to it. The Minister explained that the next phase of the airport concession deal is the negotiations and due diligence stage, during which the Federal Government will invite preferred bidders to enter detailed negotiations with its representatives, with a view to developing a Full Business Case (FBC) before onward transmission to ICRC for review and approval.