The Federal Ministry of Aviation today held a conference with preferred bidders for aerotropolis and cargo terminals’ development in the country, as part of the requirements for the public-private partnership (PPP) procurement phase.
A statement by James Odaudu, the special assistant to the minister of aviation on public affairs said the conference, held in Abuja, is in fulfilment of the provision of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Act and the National Policy on Public-Private Partnership.
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, said: “Government is committed to the projects. It is taking time because due diligence [has to be done and] ICRC is superintending the process. As an entity regulating PPP, we follow their template so that the public gets value for money.
“The present administration is not willing to sell [off] public properties but [is] willing to make them better by giving them to the private sector to make them better. That way, there is value for money,” he added.
The director of planning, research and statistics, Muhammed Shehu who doubles as chairman of the project delivery team (PDT) said the ministry is in the procurement phase for the selection of preferred bidders for the projects.
“The conference,” he said, “is designed to interface with the companies/consortia that were successful at the request for qualification (RFQ) stage and have been requalified to proceed to the request for proposal (RFP) stage of the procurement phase.
“The programme is to enable the companies to make clarifications with the consultant through the request for proposal package and draft contract agreement. The result of the exercise will guide them in the pupation of both technical and financial proposals,” he explained.
The director of transport infrastructure, ICRC, Emmanuel Onwadi said at this stage of the transaction, the commission is willing and committed to ensuring that we achieve the set standards in line with the aspiration of Nigerians.
He assured that the commission will continue to engage stakeholders throughout the project’s lifespan.
