In a bid to redevelop its infrastructure, destroyed during the civil war that ended about 13 years ago, through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, a delegation from The Presidency in Freetown, Sierra Leone, has embarked on tour of some African countries that are deemed to have excelled in PPP.
The delegation, which started its tour from Nigeria, while on a facility visit to the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), to understand the successes and challenges of the terminal, has described the situation of MMA2 as an irony.
To the six-man presidential team, that MMA2 is being stifled through various intrigues, despite being the first successful PPP in Nigeria, remains an irony.
Guided to the airport terminal by an official of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mallam Adamu Umar, the Sierra Leonean Government team was led by the Coordinator of that country’s PPP Unit in the Office of The President, Mr. Abu Kamara.
A statement by the spokesman of BASL, Chief Steve Omolale-Ajulo, said while speaking at the Conference Room of MMA2, Kamara told the management of BASL, led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Christophe Penninck, that his team chose the terminal to learn from BASL how it was running MMA2 successfully and its challenges.
Kamara, who expressed surprise that Bi-Courtney was sustaining the terminal despite the dwindling stream of revenue as a result of the redevelopment of another terminal a few metres away contrary to what was projected at inception, asked to know the magic.
The statement quoted the CEO as saying that BASL had devised various legitimate means to sustain itself in the face of dwindling revenue, adding that managing the terminal successfully required a lot of initiatives and “crazy ideas”.
The Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Adebisi Awoniyi, informed the team that “the core revenue generating stream is supposed to be from aeronautic but, we have a slight dilution with what is going on next door, that is, the redevelopment of another terminal. What that means is the fact that we now have to be creative and look at other non-aeronautic revenues to sustain ourselves. That is why we try to make sure that the terminal is commercially viable, slightly independent of the aeronautical stream of revenue…”
While praising the ingenuity of BASL, Kamara said: “I commend you honestly, because it is impressive that with the shortfall in the number of passengers, you were able to sort of get alternative sources of revenue to run the terminal well and I will assume that the obligations are being met as agreed”.
He informed the management that his office is planning to build another airport in Freetown, as the existing one is on an island, where people take ferries to board planes, adding that “we are considering building another one about 25 kilometres from the city and we believe that the private sector would play a critical role in the project”.
The team said its search of MMA2 online revealed that there were some challenges, which they believed must be hampering the projected growth of the terminal.
The COO said as the pioneer PPP project, it is unavoidable to have challenges but that others will learn from their mistakes, challenges and successes, adding that “the cost of building the terminal was very, very huge, and without following the concession agreement the way it was supposed to be followed, it was near impossible for us to cover the cost.
“There are a lot of interested parties that we had expected that they would have joined hands with us to make sure that everything in the concession agreement was followed to the letter, but unfortunately, because of the poor understanding of our own intentions and probably, the intentions of the government, there was quite some resistance from certain sections of the Federal Government and certain sections of the private sector. For example, one would have expected that the banks where we took the money from would have been able to rally with us, but unfortunately, we didn’t get that”.
Earlier in his welcome address, Mr. Christophe had expressed gratitude to the Sierra Leonean Government for choosing MMA2 for its PPP Office to understudy, saying it was an indication of utmost confidence in the terminal.
According to him, “MMA2 is a response of the private sector to the request of the Federal Government of Nigeria to help develop and manage the decaying airport infrastructure at a time not many Nigerians understood the concept of PPP. BASL took up the challenge and successfully executed the project to the pleasant surprise of Nigerians in a manner that MMA2 has now become a national pride to all”.
He added: “Being the pioneer of a successful PPP project in Nigeria is one of our major challenges, as many Nigerians still found it difficult to understand the concept six years after. Our challenges are further compounded by the poor understanding of industry stakeholders and the misrepresentation of intentions”
The delegation was later taken on tour of MMA2, after which the members expressed surprise at the facilities on ground and the efficiency with which the facilities are being run.
Also on the Sierra Leonean delegation were Mr. Alhassan Bah, Ms. Ama Gborie, Mr. Patrick Ajuno Seaay, Mr. Sheku Golfa, Ms. Isata Jah.
Apart from the CEO and COO, others on the BASL team were the Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Olusola Olayinka, Head, Terminal Operations, Mr. Bolaji Salu and Head, Communications, Chief Steve Omolale-Ajulo.
