A deal that is expected to earn about N100m to Delta State government has been signed on the Asaba Airport to concessionaires.
This was a result of an agreement signing ceremony between Delta State government and Asaba Airport Company Limited in Asaba on Tuesday during which the State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, said the concession was motivated by the desire to have the critical facility developed into a full international air travel destination and profit-oriented asset for the host state.
Okowa said: “Considering the cost alone, no state government can run an airport the way it should function to bring the maximum benefit to the people. So, we have decided to follow this route.
“I want the Delta people to know that this concession and the signing ceremony with the concessionaires today are in the best interest of the Delta people, and I hope that other States with state-owned airports will follow suit.”
According to reports, the strategic move to further develop the airport and make it run profitably (the first of such concession in the country) will also earn the state 2.5 per cent yearly revenue earnings over the next 30 years that the concession agreement would run.
Concessionaires have the mandate to invest N28 billion in the mandatory capital project the next three years and run the Asaba International Airport for an initial 30 years period, having paid the State government N1 billion as an upfront fee.
Managing Director of Asaba Airport Limited, Adebisi Adebutu, said the goal of the concession was to reposition the airport to be the best in West Africa. Adebutu said the immediate work would be to modernise the airport through the terminal upgrade and laying of optic fibre for internet services.
The long-term project would be to build a cargo facility, retail and leisure centres, airport hotel and the creation of an airport city.
Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Prof. Sani Mashi, commended the initiative, describing it as the best way to make such high-capital ventures run optimally and profitably.
