The lingering face-off between the Lagos Deep Offshore Limited (LADOL) and Samsung may have taken a new dimension, following the decision of the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) to grant a five- year lease to Samsung at the same LADOL base.
In what insiders explained as a way of pacifying the Korean company, NPA has leased 11.2426 hectares of the land to Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) “with a view to protecting the company’s investment at the base.”
The source disclosed that the decision by NPA to enter into the lease agreement with Samsung was arrived at after a careful review of the case between LADOL and Samsung.
In a letter with reference number QH/GM/L&AA/OP/L.1/488 and dated November 14th, 2019, which was signed by General Manager Leasing at the NPA; Yusuf Ahmed, NPA also requested Samsung to accept the offer within a week.
According to the letter, the total value of the lease is N219.2million per annum, or N1.1billion for five years.
To confer that the lease was a settlement package to put an end to the rift with LADOL, the NPA confirmed in the letter, that the lease to the Korean firm was a way of “resolving the matter in the interest of the parties and the nation at large”.
Samsung has also concretised the lease and has carved out the new leased area and also erected perimeter fence and a new entry and exit point, demarcating its new area of operation from LADOL.
The NPA letter which was sighted by our correspondent, read in part: “Following a thorough review of the case, the Authority has arrived at the decision to offer a direct lease of the 11.2426 hectares as a way of resolving the matter in the interest of the parties and the nation at large”
The NPA also warned Samsung not to “sublet, transfer or otherwise part with possession of the demise facility without prior knowledge and written consent of the authority”
“The land and developments thereon will revert to the Authority at the end of the lease term without compensation.’’
Discussion about this post