The federal government has approved a comprehensive
settlement of a 20-year dispute with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited over
the Murtala Muhammed Airport terminal two (MMA2) in Lagos.
As part of the settlement terms, regional flights have now
been moved to MMA2, meaning that airlines could start operating regional
flights from the facility.
This has been a longstanding issue in the concession of the
facility to Bi-Courtney, the operator of MMA2, which reportedly had its
approval to run regional flights withdrawn under the regime of former President
Goodluck Jonathan, despite the company’s over N600 million investment.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace
development, announced the development on Thursday after the federal executive
council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo said the agreement, reached with Wale Babalakin,
Bi-Courtney’s leader, resolves longstanding issues surrounding the concession
of MMA2, which dates back to 2003.
“Council today approved the terms of the agreement we
reached with Babalakin to settle all the vexed issues surrounding that
airport,” the minister said.
He said one of the major points of contention was
Bi-Courtney’s claim that the concession covered the adjacent MMA1 domestic
terminal — a position upheld by the supreme court, which ordered the federal
government to pay N132 billion plus interest.
According to Keyamo, Bi-Courtney has agreed to waive the
debt, return MMA1 to federal government control, and drop exclusivity clauses
blocking projects like Lekki Airport.
In return, the government has restored to the company the
concession for a stalled hotel and conference centre project opposite MMA2.
“We gave it back to him. Complete and run it on a shared
basis with the federal government. So it’s not even exclusive,” he said.
“So he has 24 months to complete that conference center and
hotel. We told him we will not tolerate any delay again.”
The minister stressed the deal also provides for the
relocation of regional flight operations to MMA2 and activates revenue-sharing
between the federal government and the concessionaire.
“Immediately after today, the federal government will now
begin to earn its own share from the operations of MMA2,” Keyamo said.
He described the agreement as a “give-and-take” resolution
that benefits both parties.
FEC APPROVES $2.99 BILLION RAIL PROJECTS
In a related development, the council approved three rail
projects valued at $2.99 billion to boost infrastructure and economic growth.
Speaking after the meeting, Taiwo Oyedele, minister of
finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the projects include the
Lagos green line rail (phase 1A), Kano metro rail, and Kaduna light rail.
He said the projects will be financed through the Ministry
of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) with counterpart funding support, adding that
they are expected to improve transportation, enhance productivity, and support
economic expansion.
By
TheTimes Nigeria
