Concession of MKO Abiola Airport has Failed, Says Aregbesola

Yinka kolawole Osogbo

The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has confessed that the third concession of MKO Abiola Airport, Ido-Osun, has failed.

A firm, AWOL International Company, had in October 2017, agreed to complete the MKO Abiola Airport, Ido-Osun, at a cost of N69 billion and deliver the first phase within eight months.

While answering questions at an interactive programme tagged “Ogbeni Till Daybreak” at the weekend, Aregbesola said the concessionaire has failed, assuring residents of the state that “we shall complete the project”.

The airport project had been awarded twice to different companies at different price, but all to no avail.

The Second Chief Resident Architect of the AWOL Company, Mr Niyi Ogundiran, who appeared before the Osun State House of Assembly then, disclosed that under the new concession agreement, AWOL will manage the airport for 30 years before it will transfer its ownership to the Osun State government.

According to him, the initial cost of the project when it was awarded on October 14, 2012 was N4.5 billion and eight months was proposed for its completion.

When the initial completion target could not be met, Ogundiran said the contract was reviewed and the contract sum rose to N11 billion to accommodate new features in the airport.

He further explained that the state government had spent a total of N3.6 billion on the project till date.