Chinedu Eze
The plan by the federal government to concession the terminals of major airports in Nigeria has forced Chinese contractors to suspend work on the new terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, despite the celebrated unveiling in March this year.
THISDAY investigation revealed that many critical facilities were yet to be put in place, but the Chinese contractors had since suspended work on the facility because the federal government was not categorical on its concession plans, as the four terminals at the four major airports in the country were built by loan from China EXIM bank, which has not been repaid.
The initial cost of the terminals located at Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos airports was $600 million, which include $500 million loan from China and $100 million counterpart funding by the federal government.
Informed source told THISDAY that government has not even paid its counterpart fund and is yet to service the loan, adding that during the period the projects were under construction, there were variations because some critical facilities were not included in the initial plan and due to the location of the terminals at Abuja and Lagos airports, very important adjustments have to be made for the terminals to function effectively.
A source at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) told THISDAY that if there would be concession of the facilities, dubbed Chinese terminals, the companies that built them, which are known to manage airports in other parts of the world, should be given the first right of refusal, but indications have shown that government has no plan to discuss with them on its concession plan, as THISDAY reliably gathered that government is already in discussion with a Turkish company on the concession of the airport terminals.
The FAAN official said: “The reason why airlines have not moved to the new terminal in Lagos is because there are some important facilities that are yet to be installed. The contractors packed their things and left. They suspended the work because the federal government has not paid the counterpart funds and is yet to service the loans but it is talking about concession of the terminals.
“How can you borrow money and build such structure and you want to concession them without involving those who built it who are known to manage airports in different parts of the world? They should be given the first right of refusal if you want to concession them. After borrowing money, which you have not paid; how do you pay them after you have concessioned the terminal to another company?”
The terminal was built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) Nigeria Limited but despite the inauguration of the terminals in Lagos and Abuja, there was need to remedy structural deficiencies and to expand the facilities, which cost China additional $150 million, while the federal government was yet to pay its own additional counterpart funding to speed the work and complete the projects.
It was learnt that the additional funding would be incurred because many buildings around the project in Lagos and Abuja would be destroyed to make the terminals fully functional.
It was learnt that the additional $150 million incurred by China in the project was to connect the new terminal in Lagos and Abuja to the old one in order to have seamless passenger movement, as the train station, which is located at the new terminal in Abuja would have to process passengers from both the local and international terminals.
In Lagos, the terminal is yet to be installed with check in systems and because of this foreign airlines are yet to move to the new facility; it is only the Nigerian airline, Air Peace that has been operating from there.
THISDAY spoke with the country manager of one of the international carriers who craved anonymity and he disclosed that the new terminal has no check in system.
“The facility has no check in system, so you either do manual or you carry your own system to that place. Foreign airlines are not going there because the terminal is not ready for operations. So let them finish the work first,” the country manager said.
It has been earlier reported that the ramp of the new terminal is not big enough for maneuverability of aircraft, which has prompted the federal government to direct the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), two private terminals, Evergreen and Domino to vacate their buildings located close to the new terminal so that they would be destroyed to expand the ramp for the facility.
While AIB building has been destroyed, its was learnt that the terminals were yet to adhere to the directive; although FAAN said that it had secured alternative places where they could build new structures, but it was not clear whether FAAN, in addition to providing new locations would also compensate them with funds to build their facilities.
THISDAY also gathered that FAAN has also increased tariff at the new terminal because it is a new terminal with state-of-the-art facilities and that might be the reason why the foreign carriers chose to stay away, but the country manager of the international airline said that although this has not been conveyed to the airlines; it was not the major reason why they shun the terminal, recalling that Qatar Airways had earlier announced that it would go to the new terminal, adding that the Middle East carrier had not moved to the new place because it is not ready.
However, travel expert, Ambassador Ikechi Uko said the increased tariff at the new terminal by FAAN was justified because it remained a new property with modern facilities, noting that airlines ought to give passengers the best comfort possible by moving to the new terminal when it is ready.
