Elysium Integrated Development Company to invest N8.235bn in ground transport at Lagos airport

The Minister of State Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has disclosed that a firm, Elysium Integrated Development Company, has indicated interest to invest $27 million (N8.235bn) in a mass transit ground transportation structure at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

According to a statement from Mr. James Odaudu, the Deputy Director, Media & Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, Sen. Sirika made the disclosure while inaugurating the project team for the construction of the proposed new office complex and staff quarters for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Abuja.

The proposed FAAN complex and staff quarters are to be executed through a public private partnership arrangement.

Membership of the team is drawn from the Ministry of Transportation (Aviation), FAAN, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Federal Ministries of Finance, Justice and Budget and Planning.

According to Sirika, it was an irony that the authority that has the mandate of building and managing airports in the country did not have a befitting office complex in the federal capital, while its staff lacked adequate and befitting residential quarters. This he, said had the tendency to impede on their performance.

He said the decision to construct the office complex and residential quarters through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement was to ensure that what would be delivered would be of a quality that represented value for money.

Addressing the project team members, the aviation minister charged them to ensure that the most suitable designs for the office complex and staff quarters where respectively delivered.

Among the team’s terms of reference include to identify and confirm the proposed location for the office complex and staff quarters and recommend means through which the Public Private Partnership could be fast-tracked.

By Chris Agabi, Dailytrust