Three firms have pre-qualified and issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the concession of the Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in the country, respectively.
Mr Alex Okoh, Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), said this in a statement issued by Chidi Ibeh, BPE’s Head of Public Communications in Abuja on Tuesday.
“The firms are Diamond Stripes Consortium, BUA International Limited and Northwest Petroleum and Gas Company Limited for Calabar FTZ, and Diamond Stripes Consortium, Urban Shelter Infrastructure Limited and BUA International Limited for Kano FTZ.”
Okoh, who announced their qualification at the bidder’s Pre-Bid Conference for the concession of the two FTZs on Monday, said the bidders are expected to submit their proposals on or before Dec. 2, 2022.
“Thereafter the technical proposals will be publicly opened the same day and evaluated subsequently.
“The bidders are also expected to submit, along with their proposals, the draft Concession Agreement that has been reviewed or tracked with each page signed or initially, ” he said.
He said that the pre-bid conference was a continuation of the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to diversify the country’s economy and fast-track its industrialisation.
Okoh said the government was doing this by unlocking the potential of the two FTZs to transform them into world-class facilities through the injection of private sector capital and technical capacity.
“Specifically, the purpose of this meeting is to engage with the prospective bidders, financing institutions and contractors, to elicit discussions and address key concerns concerning the transactions.
“We also seek to use this event to provide clarifications on vital issues around the bid documents which we believe should allow bidders to better contextualise and understand the bidding process and prerequisites.”
Okoh said that the FTZs had played a vital role in the economic growth and development of several countries in Southeast Asia and Southern America particularly China, India, Brazil and Mexico, including some African Countries like Ethiopia and Kenya.
The director-general, however, regretted that efforts to replicate the success of the FTZ model in Nigeria had not yielded the desired results, owing to many reasons.
He said some of the reasons included deficient and obsolete infrastructure, and over-reliance on the treasury for funding, among others.
Okoh said it was in checking this trend that the federal government, through the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in 2018, approved the reform of the Kano and Calabar FTZs to transform them through private sector participation.
“Following Council’s approval, a Transaction Implementation Committee (TIC) under the chairmanship of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment was constituted.
“The committee had membership drawn from relevant stakeholders including Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Ministry of Justice, and Nigerian Export Promotion Council and BPE was constituted to drive the reform process.
“In addition, Ernst & Young Consortium was engaged as the Transaction Adviser for the concession of the two Zones. ”
He commended the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for its determination and unwavering commitment to improving the ease of business and service delivery, through the provision of excellent infrastructure through Public Private Partnership.
Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, Managing Director, NEPZA, congratulated the pre-qualified bidders for getting to that stage of the concession of the two FTZs to drive sustainable development in the zones.
Adesugba, represented by his Special Adviser, Mr Adewale Folowosele, commended the BPE for pursuing the transaction relentlessly and described the event as an important milestone for all stakeholders involved in the transaction.
