BPE to Select New Concessionaire for Trade Fair Complex

* Recovers N6.5bn debt from Aulic

The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has mandated the
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to immediately initiate fresh
processes for a new concession transaction on the Lagos
International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC) which it recently withdrew
from Aulic Nigeria Limited.

Indicating that Aulic had not remitted to the federal government
its financial dues in the concession agreement in the last 10
years, the NCP equally asked the BPE to recover a total of N6,
542,172,000 allegedly owed the government as amount overdue to it
from Aulic.

While giving further reasons for its recent decision to revoke
the concession agreement it had with Aulic on LITFC, the NCP said
nothing other than a protracted breach of various aspects of the
lease agreement by Aulic informed its action.

It listed several instances that Aulic breached its concession
agreements with it, and directed the BPE to ensure that a new
concessionaire for the 322-hectares complex along Lagos-Badagry
Expressway was concluded within six months.

Despite an existing court process on the government disagreement
with Aulic over the LITFC concession, the NCP on September 4,
announced its revocation of concession. The development has also
thrown up reactions from different stakeholders involved in the
complex.

But in an explanatory document on the concession disagreement by
the NCP which THISDAY obtained yesterday in Abuja, the government
allegedly received only about N212 million (N200 million as entry
fee, and another N12,731,000 for immovable assets) from Aulic since
it took over the complex in 2007, and this is despite the terms of
the contract which stated that Aulic will pay N40 billion as
concession fee on LITFC over 30 years.

The document also noted that Aulic had in breach of the contract
it signed with the government and development plan of the complex,
sub-leased parts of the facility to third parties without
appropriate approval from the government.
It noted that the lawn tennis court and land spaces running into
hectares of land were illegally sub-leased by Aulic to Motor
Dealers and Allied Products Association; Old Mercedes Trucks Spare
Parts and Scrap Metal Dealers Association; Coker Building Materials
Dealers Association; and Chinese Engineering Construction Company
(CCECC) for an upward of 20 years and huge financial returns to
Aulic.

“Council may note that Aulic’s serial breaches of the concession
contract include: uncoordinated tool gates manned by touts; the
road network to the complex is in a deplorable state; Aulic has no
standard management team; refuse dumps litter the estate at all
times, at least three ‘mammy markets’ have sprung up in the complex
with a lot of miscreants and hoodlums operating there; since the
handover of the complex to Aulic in 2008 till date, the exhibition
halls have been in a deplorable state, compelling the Lagos State
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to relocate their yearly
trade fairs to Tafawa Balewa Square,” the document added.

* Recovers N6.5bn debt from Aulic

The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has mandated the
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to immediately initiate fresh
processes for a new concession transaction on the Lagos
International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC) which it recently withdrew
from Aulic Nigeria Limited.

Indicating that Aulic had not remitted to the federal government
its financial dues in the concession agreement in the last 10
years, the NCP equally asked the BPE to recover a total of N6,
542,172,000 allegedly owed the government as amount overdue to it
from Aulic.

While giving further reasons for its recent decision to revoke
the concession agreement it had with Aulic on LITFC, the NCP said
nothing other than a protracted breach of various aspects of the
lease agreement by Aulic informed its action.

It listed several instances that Aulic breached its concession
agreements with it, and directed the BPE to ensure that a new
concessionaire for the 322-hectares complex along Lagos-Badagry
Expressway was concluded within six months.

Despite an existing court process on the government disagreement
with Aulic over the LITFC concession, the NCP on September 4,
announced its revocation of concession. The development has also
thrown up reactions from different stakeholders involved in the
complex.

But in an explanatory document on the concession disagreement by
the NCP which THISDAY obtained yesterday in Abuja, the government
allegedly received only about N212 million (N200 million as entry
fee, and another N12,731,000 for immovable assets) from Aulic since
it took over the complex in 2007, and this is despite the terms of
the contract which stated that Aulic will pay N40 billion as
concession fee on LITFC over 30 years.

The document also noted that Aulic had in breach of the contract
it signed with the government and development plan of the complex,
sub-leased parts of the facility to third parties without
appropriate approval from the government.
It noted that the lawn tennis court and land spaces running into
hectares of land were illegally sub-leased by Aulic to Motor
Dealers and Allied Products Association; Old Mercedes Trucks Spare
Parts and Scrap Metal Dealers Association; Coker Building Materials
Dealers Association; and Chinese Engineering Construction Company
(CCECC) for an upward of 20 years and huge financial returns to
Aulic.

“Council may note that Aulic’s serial breaches of the concession
contract include: uncoordinated tool gates manned by touts; the
road network to the complex is in a deplorable state; Aulic has no
standard management team; refuse dumps litter the estate at all
times, at least three ‘mammy markets’ have sprung up in the complex
with a lot of miscreants and hoodlums operating there; since the
handover of the complex to Aulic in 2008 till date, the exhibition
halls have been in a deplorable state, compelling the Lagos State
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to relocate their yearly
trade fairs to Tafawa Balewa Square,” the document added.