As government and private sector continue to tilt favourably in the direction of Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the delivery of infrastructure, Engr. Femi Akintunde, Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s leading Facilities Management Company, Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Limited, AMFacilities, has once again tasked government and private sector operators on ways of ensuring infrastructure developments are sustainable in Nigeria.
Engr. Akintunde who spoke at the 4th edition of the Infrastructure Asset Summit Africa in Lagos, said for any infrastructure project to be sustainable, such a project must be economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally responsible to all the stakeholders.
He argued that most concessioned infrastructure projects in the country today are witnessing setbacks and are losing their essence because sustainability factors such as stakeholders’ engagement, Facilities Management and Asset Maintenance were relegated to the background from inception.
Speaking on a topic: “Achieving Sustainability in the Development and Management of Public Infrastructure through PPP Concessioning Arrangement: Case Study of Lekki Toll Road”, Akintunde who was 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year West Africa, submitted that the Lekki Epe master plan is on course, but sustainability of the project may be at risk.
“As with most other Public Private Partnership projects in Nigeria, there are some challenges with the Lekki Epe Express project which is threatening the sustainability of the master plan. For example, there is only one road access to that axis; how would people be evacuated in cases of emergencies? For an area projected to accommodate a resident population of about 3.4 million, the road is not economically sustainable because it is prone to quicker wear and tear due to the heavy traffic it carries”.
“On the other hand, we should ask ourselves why the people are resisting the tolling even when travel time on the road has reduced. It is because government and private sector are yet to show the people the economics of the project. As the case stands, the government has bought the project off the private company; but we must consider the situation from the point of view of future investors in our PPP projects. Why would any private investor want to put his money in ventures that the people might resist”?
He furthered expressed concern that other infrastructure projects such as Airports that were also concessioned are becoming unsustainable because the maintenance of these projects were taken for granted. “My fear is that if this poor maintenance culture of our public infrastructure continues unabated, what we will be getting back at the end of the concessioning period will be a mere carcass that might be worse than what was concessioned”, he lamented.
He however advised that for all stakeholders to benefit from the immense gains of PPP, each of them must be willing to play defined roles and responsibilities.
“Rather than getting entangled with maintenance and operations, government should focus on its key role which is regulatory. So for us to get value on our public infrastructure, government must assume that role of requesting that private sector operators include Facilities Management and maintenance components in their concessioning agreement. Government must also go further to ensure strict adherence and enforcement of the laid down procedure for maintenance of the infrastructure”.
The Alpha Mead MD however concluded that the people must also be ready to own the infrastructure that government and private sector have provided for them. While citing the example of Festac Town where infrastructure is in a sorry state because the residents are solely relying on government, Akintunde urged that people must also be socially responsible to their government and instill good maintenance culture in the younger generation.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Mr. Chidi Umeano, Lead Consultant Codub and Convener, Infrastructure and Asset Summit Africa; Mr. Neil McAndrew, Quality Assurance and Technical Manager, Landmark Chartered Surveyors – UK, and Engr. Femi Akintunde, MD/CEO Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Ltd (AMFacilities) at the 4th edition of the Asset Summit held in Lagos recently