Bouygues, Eko Global, Maevis bid for Lekki International Airport
Three infrastructure developing consortia of firms, including Bouygues Batiment, Eko Global and Maevis, are in the race for the first round of bidding for the development of what will be the second international airport in Lagos, the Lekki International Airport.
Local and foreign representatives of the bidders are currently in the state for the preliminary processes of the bidding as well as holding talks with the government and a team of consultants to the project. The bidders have already gone to the site for physical inspection of the airport area to enable them make their impression.
BusinessDay learnt that the preferred and reserved bidders are expected to be announced in April 2014, while the signing of a concession agreement and project documents will take place in June 2014, with the financial close of deal expected in September.
The airport, which is being promoted by Lagos State government, is to complement the existing federal-owned Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMA) in Ikeja. The new airport is being sited close to Epe along Lekki-Eti-Osa-Epe corridor. It is planned to sit on 4,500 hectares of land, with three runways under the first phase.
The first phase of the airport, which is to be completed within four years of signing a concession agreement with the would-be preferred bidder, will have an initial passenger capacity of 3.2 million per annum. It will be designed to allow for future expansion, and as a Code F-compliant airport it will cater for A380 airbuses.
The choice of the location, according to sources, is informed by the need to further open up Lekki and complement the massive infrastructural development ongoing around the area, including the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ), Lekki Deep Seaport, Methanol/Gas Plant, among several housing and industrial estates springing up in the area said to be the fastest growing corridor in West Africa, attracting high volume human traffic.
Four rated firms are working with Lagos State as consultants to the airport project. They include Arup, a global firm of consultant engineers, designers, planners and technical specialists; Norton Rose Fulbright, a global legal firm with more than 3,800 lawyers across 54 offices worldwide; Stanbic IBTC Capital, a member of Standard Bank Group, one of Africa's largest banking groups, with nearly 150 years experience; as well as Banwo & Ighodalo, a Nigerian-based legal firm.
Batiment International Consortium, a subsidiary of the Bouygues Group, is one of the world's leaders in the building, civil works and electrical contracting and maintenance sectors. The group organised as seven complementary entities has expertise in financing, designing, constructing, maintaining and operating buildings and structures. It is reputed for the successful completion of the new Larnaka and Pafos International Airports in Cyprus.
Maevis is as a world-class travel enhancement company, with focus on providing infrastructure, systems, equipment and technology with strong footing in the transport sector and aviation industry.
Ayo Gbeleyi, the Lagos State commissioner for finance, and Sola Oworu, his commerce and industry counterpart, told BusinessDay during a pre-bid meeting with representatives of the bidders that the airport is to be delivered as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project.
According to the duo who confirmed the commitment of the state to the project, the government is providing the land and other complementary infrastructure, while the eventual preferred bidder with whom a concession agreement would be signed will undertake the construction of the airport on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Manage (DBFOM) basis under a competitive tender process and in accordance with international best practice.
According to Gbeleyi, Oworu and the consultants, the concessionaire will be expected to build the airport and its various components, including the runways, aprons, terminals, and cargo facilities. It will also develop access facilities such as secondary roads, water supply, fire-fighting station and maintenance facilities.
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