TBS: an investment destination, says ICRC boss
NAN-HE-10
Concession
By Olawunmi Ashafa
Lagos, Jan. 25, 2018 (NAN) The Acting Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chika Izuwa, says the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) remains a facility that can attract huge investments into the country.
Izuwa said this at the commission’s monitoring visit to the Tafawa Balewa Square Complex Concession Project on Thursday in Lagos.
According to him, the facility has the potential to become an investment destination for foreign investors.
He said what the country needed to do was close up its infrastructural gap by ensuring it uses the monumental infrastructure such as the TBS to achieve that feat.
Izuwa also said that some advanced nations and cities such as London, Paris, Dubai and among others, had used such facilities to attract foreign investment.
He said, “The Marina subsequently, one day will be developed to a cruise terminal, foreign vessels will come here to stay. This place is already creating jobs, in spite of the fact that it has not been fully developed and a lot of Nigerians would be gainfully employed.
“This is a wonderful facility and its one of its kind when you come to Lagos. There was a vision, when the concession was signed ten years ago. Now, this facilities have been sustained and that is a good one but the vision has not been realised.
“I won’t be happy until the vision is realised because the aim of the concession is to bring private people to achieve the outputs of the specification and those outputs have not been achieved.
“The output has not become worse than it was and that also good news. So, it is a mixed feeling for me.
“I would have been overjoyed if I saw a five star hotel, a big auditorium, an underground car park that were planned as part of the concession agreement ten years ago.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ICRC is a regulatory body saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring the efficient execution of all Private-Public Partnership (PPP) Projects entered into by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, on behalf of the Federal Government.
ICRC also has the mandate to report the performance of the projects and their challenges for executive intervention.
The ICRC boss said that from the report the commission had received from both the Tafawa Balawa Square Management Board(TBSMB) and the BHS International, it had reasonable facts to conclude that the implementation of the concession had severe challenges.
Izuwa said that the regulatory body decided to visit the project to assess its level of implementation, parties’ compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract agreement.
He also said that the visit was to have an on-the-spot assessment of the facility, review the project’s challenges and recommend possible action plans toward resolving them.
Izuwa said that the commission had since its inauguration in 2008 worked relentlessly in putting up procedures and processes to guide the PPP process.
He said another step taken by ICRC was the partnership with the World Bank to develop a PPP disclosure portal in which the TBS was one of the projects showcased to the international community.
He thanked the TBS management board and BSH International for the level of understanding and maturity applied in managing the several conflicts that arose as a result of the concession.
“I have often said it that the infrastructure gap in Nigeria is massive and there is no way this gap can be bridged without effective collaboration with the private sector.
He urged Nigerians to support the commission in its effort in growing the nation’s infrastructure through PPP, saying “it is the most efficient procurement alternative in the world over.’’
Also, the Managing Director of BHS International Ltd., Mr Olu Adenodi, said that the company had contended with unusual circumstances which were not contemplated in the concession agreement.
Adenodi said that some of the critical development that militated against the concession were that all stakeholders in the TBS Complex and the Lagos State Government brought the concession to a halt for a full year, leading to losses and setbacks on financial projections.
He also said that the effect of litigations from the Lagos State Government and the harsh and non- cooperative environment, as well as government interventions in commercial running of the complex between 2009 and 2010 further complicated activities and disrupted its commercial flow, among other challenges.
He urged the ICRC to engage in discussions with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Vice President and Chairperson of the NCP and the TBSMB, so as to effectively find enduring solutions to the company’s challenges.(NAN)
AWA/PIO/PIO
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(Edited by Idonije Obakhedo)