Lagos – The Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Aminu Diko said that Public Private Partnership (PPP) remained the best option to finance infrastructure gap.
Diko stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of a two-day monitoring by ICRC of the Lekki Deep Sea Project and Kirikiri Lighter Terminal I and II.
NAN reports that ICRC also monitored the reclamation, sand-filling and infrastructural development of Festac Phase 2 in Lagos.
Diko said that the concession of the three projects as a PPP option was to resuscitate infrastructure decay and close the gap in the deficit.
The director-general said that the country, though blessed but the dwindling economic situation presently had prevented the government not having enough funds to build more infrastructure.
“The public private partnership should not be seen as privatisation; PPP allows the private sector to repair and rebuild infrastructure as well as recoup their investment for a stipulated time.
“The ICRC is involved in the monitoring of the projects to ensure delivery at the expected time,’’ Diko said.
He said that the Federal Government was not buoyant to invest in such new projects, except in partnership with the private sector.
Diko said that with the concession, Nigerians and foreign investors would partner with the government to close the infrastructure deficit gap and rebuild the economy.
He, therefore, said that the government had identified the private sector as an engine of the economy.
Speaking on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) concession of the Kirikiri Lighter Terminals I and II, he said that the NPA would rebuild the terminals for a number of years and recoup its investments.
On whether the fishing trawlers at the terminals would be relocated from their present base, he said the commission had identified that there was need to know who would bear the cost of the relocation.
He said that another major issue was to find out if the new location would be conducive for the business of trawler owners and adequate for expansion plan.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Diko, however, said that government had to consider all those factors because of the importance of the sub-sector to the economy.
“Similarly, in the port, you have people who have been given concession of some terminals; they do not use it and they sublet to other people.
“If you look at the magnitude of the initial investments, you see that they have been seriously under-utilised,’’ he said.
Diko lauded the steps taken by the Federal Government to take PPP option to finance the rebuilding of the infrastructure.
The ICRC boss said that all investments and equipment bought at the end of the concession belong to government and not the private sector.
He said that “same goes to the concession of the National Theatre which is not privatised because government does not want Nigerians to be short-changed, particularly the future generation.’’
“In terms of the National Theatre, the private sector is coming with some relationship with some hotels abroad.
“They will turn the massive land surrounding the National Theatre into a city that will have hotels, offices and water resources where children can play.
“The private sector will modernise it to generate more funds for the government,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the key investors of the Deep Seaport include the Federal Government, Lagos State Government and a private investor, Singapore-based Tolaram Group.
NAN also reports that the ICRC is the government’s regulatory agency saddled with the mandate of monitoring concession projects within the PPP transactions. (NAN)