The Federal Ministry of Aviation has announced the Corporacion America Airports Consortium as the preferred bidder for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, while ENL Consortium has also been selected as the reserve bidder for NAIA.
This is as the federal government, yesterday, declared that planned take off of Nigeria Air in December will come to pass despite opposition against the plan by Domestic Airline Operators.
Also, the preferred bidder for Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, is TAV/NAHCO/PROJECT PLANET LIMITED(PPL) Consortium and Sifax/Changi Consortium has also been selected as the reserve bidder for MMIA.
The preferred bidder for Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, is Corporacion America Airports Consortium and there are no reserve bidders for MAKIA as at the time of this announcement.
Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Port Harcourt, did not receive any proposals as of the close of deadline and as such has not had preferred and reserve bidders attached to it.
The minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika while briefing journalists in Abuja last night, said the decision was reached in line with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (establishment, etc.) Act, 2005 and global best practice.
He also said the Request for Proposals (RFP) phase of the Nigeria Airports Concession Programme (NACP), which came to a close on September 19, 2022 has seen the emergence of preferred and reserve bidders for three out of four Airports and Cargo Terminals as approved for concession under the programme.
Meanwhile, Domestic Airline operators in Nigeria have been kicking against the project on the ground of making Ethiopian Airline major investor in the business .
But the minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika in an interview with journalists at the sideline of interactive session the Senate Committee on Aviation had with the Minister, heads of agencies in the Aviation sector and Domestic Airline operators, said no going back on the project scheduled to take off in December this year.
"Nigeria Air is a company that is registered and known to the laws of Nigeria which will become by the God's grace the much awaited airline.
"It is going to happen by the grace of God between now and December of this year. It will fly and also compete fairly with all of those existing airlines.
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"The intent is not to kill any business. The intent is to help to promote all businesses to be able to provide the needed service and employ our people.
"This is the intent and the more the merrier. The more that you have people doing businesses, then the one that does it better take the advantage and they give more service and the people get served more better.
"If everyone of them is doing very well without any favouritism, then it means that the competition will be healthy and will bring down the price of tickets and increase the propensity to fly and make more people to fly and then make more money for the airlines and give more service to the country Nigeria.
"The idea is a very good one. Whether it will be established by the grace of God it will be established and it will be for the people", he said .
