‘Proposed N10bn TBS City Centre Due for Take-off’
The Chief Executive Officer, BHS International Limited, concessionaires of Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos, Chief Olu Adenodi, has given an assurance that construction works on a N10 billion world-class City Centre proposed for the TBS would soon begin.
Speaking with THISDAY, Adenodi said the ultra-modern building project could not begin in the last five years as projected because of a legal tussle over the ownership of the TBS between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government.
The BHS is concessionaire to the wide expanse of property which was once the seat of power before Nigeria’s capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja.
Explaining why the legal tussle had affected the company’s ambitious project, Adenodi said: “We would ordinarily not take any step that is subjudice or can send wrong signals among stakeholders in the country.
“But I am happy to inform you that there are moves between the Federal authorities and the Lagos State Government to resolve the legal tussle, and we are optimistic that this will soon be achieved.”
He said many foreign investors had indicated interest in committing huge sums to the development of the TBS, especially, the construction of a City Centre, but that they had been kept on hold pending the resolution of the legal tussle.
Adenodi noted that the BHS team was in the United States in March this year, where it held series of investment road shows, aimed at attracting American investors to Nigeria, using the TBS project as a launching pad.
He noted that as one of the outcomes of the US road shows, Georgia County’s Economic Development Corporation came calling on the BHS last month, with aim of forming a partnership towards investing in over 400 businesses in Nigeria.
He noted, however, that there had been series of discussions between the BHS and a conglomerate of US-based investors, “who are willing to commit over $100 million to transform the TBS to a world-class tourist attraction.
“We have projected a city centre valued at over N10 billion for the TBS and that was one of the reasons we went on investment road shows in the US last March, where we seized the opportunity to firm up talks with a conglomerate of investors, who are bringing in not less than $300 million worth of investment.
“The TBS is a national monument that has to be preserved and protected, and that is why since the Federal Government put the Complex under our care, we are making all efforts to transform it to the pride of the nation,” Adenodi enthused.