Telcos may suffer $1.5bn loss on Apapa Road repairs

Investigation by National Daily revealed that the telecoms sector may suffer a staggering loss of about $1.5 billion over the reconstruction of Wharf Road, Apapa, the main port city in Nigeria, Ripples Nigeria findings have revealed.

The estimated loss would be borne by four GSM companies namely MTN, Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat, each having their masts and underground cables located in Apapa, which is a hub of business activities in the commercial city-state of Lagos.

This is because the repair work, planned to last one year, will see most of the telecom facilities damaged beyond repair.

To that effect, all companies with cables on the rights of way were said to have been officially informed by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to begin the process of dismantling their masts and cables which had been marked for removal during the construction work National Dailyinvestigation revealed.

The spokesman of the Minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola, Akeem Bello, said an all stakeholders meetings held before the signing of the memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the two private firms involved in the repair work, Flour Mills Ltd and Dangote Plc, and that other various business interests in the area were made to understand the implications of total rehabilitation of the road.

None of the telcos, however, agreed to confirm that such meetings held with them in attendance.

They claimed that they only learnt of government plans to have some private sector participation in the road re-constructions in the news and have on their own begun calculation of the cost of such work on their facilities in the area.

Contacted for comments, both Airtel and Etisalat officials said that the position of their respective managements on the development would be made public soon.

However, an MTN senior management staff, on condition of anonimity, told National Daily that it would cost an estimated $30 million to put up a base station, whereas Apapa alone houses more stations than any other part of the country.

The IHS Towers, a major masts-related services provider, speaking through its media manager, Akin Kolawole, confirmed that the relocation of telecoms cables, masts and other related equipment will cost fortunes.

“In most cases, all the wires and other materials, removed from a location are often discarded, meaning that new ones may be acquired.

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“This will happen with the Apapa Road re-construction as far as the telecoms cables are concerned.

“Apapa has other cables from companies that have to do with communication, meaning that by the time all other costs are added, more than $1.5 billion being estimated will be a child’s play.

“To that effect, even the telecos’ services will be interrupted during the relocation of the masts and cables in the area,” Kolawole said.