2016.

Lagos.

A very serious consortium thought it had secured a very serious project...

The Fourth Mainland Bridge.

Thirty-eight kilometres.

₦844 billion.

A 40-year toll-road PPP.

Wow.

The consortium included major contractors, banks and infrastructure investors.

They had the Government.

They had signed an MoU.

They had even announced a three-year construction programme.

The champagne was open.

Celebrations…

But…

The champagne was not cold enough.

You’d say… details, the important thing is the MoU, the party, the bonuses…

Yeah…

But other details such as knowing whether the tolls could finance the bridge… were still “being tested”.

Read that again.

I give you a few more seconds…

Yes.

They had signed the MoU for a toll-funded PPP before confirming whether the toll-funded PPP was financially feasible.

I love these stories.

Of course, one year later, the Government terminated the arrangement.

Officially, because progress was too slow.

Reality is simpler.

The project was eventually relaunched through a competitive procurement.

Fifty-two expressions of interest.

Thirty-two compliant applicants.

Fifteen submissions.

Six shortlisted bidders.

And, finally, a different consortium was selected.

The original team did not just lose the project.

It disappeared from the process.

Now, I do not know how much that first consortium spent.

But a team containing international banks, investors, engineers and contractors does not work for a year on a multibillion-dollar bridge for free.

The warning signs were there.

The revenue model was not proven.

The route had major land and compensation consequences.

The political cost of tolling was unavoidable.

The financing depended on decisions beyond the immediate project team.

The path from MoU to an exclusive, bankable award was unclear.

And the promised programme looked suspiciously optimistic.

Red flag, after red flag…

But, hey… they had an MoU.

And I get it.

An MoU creates meetings.

Momentum.

Models.

Drawings.

Advisers.

And wishful thinking.

What they needed was someone inside the room prepared to open the windows.

And then their eyes.

This is precisely why I created Before You Send.

Before you send the proposal.

Before you mobilise the consultants.

Before you spend six figures proving the wrong thing.

Let someone who has seen movies like this identify the red flags.

It is considerably cheaper before the Government discovers them.

Use this information at your own risk.

The path to avoid expensive mistakes… below.

WAITING LIST - Retainer / BEFORE YOU SEND

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