Thankfully, no life was lost in the incident. The project comprises an Airport Terminal Building, a multi-storey car park and an apron.
n the early hours of May 10, 2000, the domestic airport of the Murtala Muhammed Airport went into flames and all efforts by the fire fighters to save the airport from the unprecedented and wide scale destruction proved abortive. The domestic terminal had been built in the pre-independent era and before the construction of the International terminal to cater for both international and regional flig
hts. Following the inferno, the Federal Government made a decision to redevelop the Airport using private sector investment under a Public-Private Partnership Scheme. The plan completely transferred all development and operating risks to the private sector specifically on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement. Bi-Courtney Limited, the parent company of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, was in 2003 awarded the concession by the Federal Government of Nigeria to design, build and operate the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Domestic Terminal and ancillary facilities on a land area of 20,000m2. Bi-Courtney Limited set out to work promptly with the goal of building a world class Airport Terminal that will be the pride of Nigerians and promote Lagos as a major hub in Africa. However, the journey to realizing MMA2 as an ultra modern airport facility was not without its challenges primarily in the area of financial support, given the fact that BOT financing for such a huge project with a long term repayment plan is not very fashionable in Nigeria. Despite the absence of financial support Bi-Courtney remained undeterred. The company proceeded with the project (with support from Oceanic Bank International Plc) and interestingly expanded its scope to build a Terminal that eventually exceeded the expectations of the Federal Government. By March 2007, Zenith Capital Limited led six banks – Oceanic Bank International Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, GTBank Plc, First Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc to arrange N20 billion part-financing for the completion of MMA Terminal 2. The terminal was commissioned on 7 April 2007 and flight operations commenced on 7 May 2007, Presently MMA2 is the first BOT project of its magnitude in the area of infrastructure development which was completed successfully by a Nigerian Company.
