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Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Bi-Courtney to Cede 20% Stake to Lagos, Ogun and Oyo

By on June 5, 2012

The inability of Bi-Courtney to conduct any meaningful work on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway after several years of receiving the concession has attracted solutions from the Federal Government.

President Jonathan set up a committee to look into the issues preventing Bi-Courtney from keeping to its end of the agreement to modernize, reconstruct and expand the road. The committee comprises of the Ministry of Works, and Justice and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

The committee recommended a renegotiation of the road contract with Bi-Courtney, and one of the recommendations made is that a 20% equity stake in the project be given to the three states which the road passes through namely Lagos, Ogun and Oyo.

Bi-Courtney insists that it can execute the project on its own and recently disclosed that NAL Merchant Bank of South Africa will be providing the financing for the project.

However the State governments whose states and therefore citizens are affected by the road, will likely not cooperate with Bi-courtney unless the firm makes concessions.

There has been grandstanding between Bi-Courtney and Ogun and Lagos state governments in the past and this has affected pertinent issues like Right of Way.

In the meantime, the road is in as precarious a state as ever. Last week a tanker exploded after losing balance on the road. The explosion roasted 24 cars. Thankfully no lives were lost.