The Minister of state for aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has disclosed that a private firm, Elysium Integrated Development Company, has indicated interest to invest $27milion (N8.235bn) in a mass transit ground transportation structure at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
According to a statement from Mr. James Odaudu, the Deputy Director, Media & Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, Sen. Sirika made the disclosure while inaugurating the Project Team for the construction of the proposed new office complex and staff quarters for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Abuja.
The proposed FAAN complex and the staff quarters is to be executed through a public-private partnership arrangement.
Membership of the team is drawn from the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation), FAAN, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Federal Ministries of Finance, Justice and Budget and Planning.
According to Sirika, it is an irony that the Authority that has the mandate of building and managing airports in the country does not have a befitting office complex in the federal capital, just as its staff lack adequate and befitting residential quarters. This he said had the tendency to impede on their performances.
He said that the decision to construct the office complex and residential quarters through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement was to ensure that what would be delivered would be of a quality that represents value for money.
Addressing the Project Team members, the aviation minister charged them to ensure that the most suitable designs for the office complex and staff quarters where respectively delivered.
Among the team’s terms of reference is to identify and confirm the proposed location for the office complex and staff quarters and recommend means through which the Public-Private Partnership can be fast-tracked.
