By Ime Akpan
Lagos
The National Assembly joint committee on Aviation has resolved to wade into the crisis involving Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd (BASL), operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over the tenure of concession of the terminal.
The lawmakers who made the resolution at the weekend in Lagos during a facility tour of the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport however asked the concessionaire to produce valid documents to prove its (BASL’s) claim that the concession was extended from 12 years to 36.
The directive followed the submission of the managing director of MMA2, Capt, Jari Williams that the terminal was given as a concession on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis first for 12 years and later reviewed and extended to 36 years.
“The terminal was given to BASL as a concession for initial 12-year period, thereafter extended to 36 years. The terminal has six fingers, capable of handling four million passengers.
“This terminal is also positioned to handle regional flights out of Lagos. The airlines are willing to operate their regional flights out of here, but FAAN is stopping them. There are lots of breaches in the concession agreement when government kept open the general aviation terminal (GAT), which was part and parcel of passengers calculated for this project.
“50 per cent of our revenues end up in GAT. We have been trying to make the project going despite the 50 per cent shortage. The stunted growth development here would have been addressed if the government had obeyed the agreement. The revenue loss is colossal. Therefore, GAT operations should be stopped and all traffic diverted to MMA2 and all the domestic airlines doing regional operations should be made to operate from MMA2 so that we can have a cordial relationship with FAAN,” he said.
Responding, the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on aviation, Ms. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said the lawmakers would like to listen to the various arguments concerning the concession agreement and requested to see the documents.
“We have already seen the document that granted the concession for 12 years. Now, we want to see the one that extended the tenure of the concession to 36 years,” she said.
Also speaking, the chairman, senate committee on aviation, Mr. Adamu Aliero said the national assembly would wade into the FAAN-BASL concession controversy,” he said.
