Stephen Angbulu, Abuja
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, in Abuja, approved the sum of N20.47bn for contract variation, the procurement of five firefighting trucks and facility upgrades in the Apapa and Lekki deep sea ports.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Transportation, Mu’Azu Sambo, revealed this to journalists after this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the State House, Abuja.
Sirika explained that Council approved the variation and additional costs of contract for procurement of security and safety operations equipment at Maiduguri International Airport.
With an initial cost of N20bn, he said the project required an additional N2.64bn due the drop in the naira value which affected the foreign component of the contract.
“It is that procurement that we sought to vary because of time and then also the exchange rate of central bank has been moved by CBN. And the contracts were foreign components denominated the movement was N306 to the dollar to N416 to the dollar. So that called for the variation of the contract. The initial cost was N20.34m. It was viewed the total addition is about N2.64bn,” the minister explained.
The second memoranda involved the procurement of five firefighting vehicles. This also include ancillary costs for the vehicles and tubs, spares, training of operators, transportation, clearing, etc.
“Total cost is N7.10bn with seven and a half per cent VAT. Delivery time is 12 months and the number of trucks is five units for airport rescue and the company is MSSRS Balkan with Gulf of Africa.
“The third memorandum was approval for award of contract for the supply and installation of four sets of automatic high capacity screening machines at Mallam Aminu kano International Airport and the general aviation terminal in Lagos with a total contract sum is N993.7m. This will have a delivery period of four months and, of course, do include taxes,” said Sirika.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation presented two memoranda for various Public-Private Partnership projects.
Sambo said the first of them will address access to potable water in the Lagos port complex in Apapa and the Tincan Island ports.
“In the case of the Lagos port complex Apapa, the refurbishment, operation, maintenance and transportation of water system at the Lagos port complex would be executed by Messrs TECHNIS engineering on a refurbish, operate and transfer model with an estimated benchmark amount of N5.04bn inclusive of a concession period of 16 years with a one-year refurbishment period as moratorium.
“The second one in respect of was of the refurbishment, operation, maintenance and transportation of water system at the Lagos port complex will be implemented by Mr. Sanders energy and Engineering Services Limited on the refurbish operate and transfer PPP model with an estimated project sum of N4.7bn naira inclusive of a concession period of 16 years and one-year refurbishment moratorium period,” he explained.
Another PPP project approved by the Council was the establishment and the renewal of MARPOL port reception facilities for the disposal of ship-generated waste and cargo residues at the Lekki deep seaport, the Dangote refinery and the Dangote Jetties. This also include five pilotage districts of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar and Warri.
“The new one to be established at the Lekki deep sea ports and Dangote refinery and the Dangote Jetty at the Lekki Free Trade Zone would be implemented by MSSRS African Cycle pollution management limited for a period of 15 years on a revenue sharing ratio of 50/50 between the Nigerian Ports Authority and the company.
“While that of the five pilotage districts, which expired last month has been renewed for another 15 years. This time around on a revenue sharing basis of 50/50 and the concession period is also reduced from 20 years to 15 years,” Sambo revealed.
He further explained that the projects are crucial given the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships which was established to, among other reasons, prevent the pollution of the marine environment by the discharge of harmful substances or wastes containing such substances into the sea from ships.
