Delta, Consortium Sign Asaba Airport Concessioning Agreement

Process very transparent, says Okowa

A 30-year concession agreement on the Asaba International Airport, Delta State, was yesterday signed between the state government and the Asaba Airport Company Limited, as the state Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, described the bidding process leading to the final agreement as “very transparent.”

The Asaba airport concession deal, which is worth over N28 billion, is for 30 years with N100 million payable to the state per annum and a possible escalation at five percent every five years, the governor disclosed.

“The bidding process was rigorous but transparent, and the state government was convinced that the final outcome was what was best for the people and the economy of the state in the long run, as the state government was realistic about its inability to operate an airport to the desired international standards,” the governor said at the signing ceremony.

Okowa said the journey to the concession agreement signing ceremony began in November 2015, when he set up a Project Steering Committee headed by his Senior Policy Adviser, Prof Henry Monye, “with the mandate to shop for a consortium of concessionaire operators/ investors with the technical and financial capabilities to redevelop, finance, design, operate, maintain and manage the Asaba airport for the Delta State Government.”

He noted that the airport, which was conceived and begun construction by the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan administration, had suffered a setback when the country’s aviation regulatory authority downgraded the airport, compelling an upgrade by his new government.

According to Okowa, “As we may be aware, this airport was conceived and built by the previous administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan not only as a passenger airport but one that will tap the vast economic potential accruable from the proximity to the eastern commercial cities of Onitsha and Nnewi, and be a hub for export of agricultural and manufactured goods.