Minister of Aviation
A foremost legal luminary in Nigeria, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) has sought the immediate disqualification of three consortiums from the ongoing concession process for four International airports in the country.
Falana made the request known in a letter he addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) which he signed personally.
Falana insisted that the three entities, TAV Consortium, GMR Consortium and Airport De Paris (ADP) should be disqualified and stopped from future participation in any of the processes because they are parts of more than one bid.
The human right lawyer who noted that it was expressly spelt out in Section 2.2 of the Request For Qualification (RFQ) that no applicant single or a consortium can be part of more than one bid, alleged that two consortium owned by ADP submitted expression of interest.
In the letter, Falana who also noted that contrary to the misleading impression that both TAV and GMR are separate entities said that a search on the Internet revealed that ADP owns 46 percent of GMR and 49 percent of TAV.
The letter Request to disqualify Consortium, GMR and ADP dated November 3, 2021 and addressed to the Minister of Aviation and copied the ICRC DG read in part,”Our attention has been drawn to the public notice published by the Ministry of Aviation sometime in August 2021 wherein Requests for Qualification (RFO) were invited for. the Concession of four Airport Terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano in accordance with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Est.) Act 2005 and The National Policy on Public Private Partnership (N4P).
“It is pertinent to note that it is expressly stated in Section 2.2 of the RFQ that no applicant single or a consortium can be part of more than one bid. Section 2.2.3 is further clarifying that the eligibility shall apply to an applicant and/or to the parties consisting of the applicant i.e shareholders.
“However, we have confirmed that two consortium owned by ADP Airport De Paris submitted expression of interest. The first consortium led by TAV Airport Holding (where ADP owns 49%) and the Second submission done by GMR Airports Limited (Where ADP owns 46%).
“Contrary to the misleading impression that both TAV and GMR are separate entities, a search on the Internet has revealed that ADP owns 46 percent of GMR and 49 percent of TAV.
“Having contravened the RFQ without any legal basis whatsoever, the TAV led consortium and the GMR submission as well as ADP as a standalone party should be disqualified from participation in the tender or joining any group in future after Pre Qualifications results are announced.” The letter read.
