14th August, 2014
Malam Yahaya Yusuf, Director of the Development Control Department, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has identified paucity of fund as a major constraint to the resettlement of indigenous residents of the FCT.
Yusuf told NAN in Abuja on Wednesday that the FCTA had initiated a land swap policy as a way out of the funding challenge to allow for total development.
“Resettlement and relocation is a major setback to total development of the FCT and the territory’s administration is concerned about this.
“The administration has come with an alternative policy (Land Swap), which is to give room for private developers to acquire an area, provide the required infrastructure and take care of resettlement of the indigenes while retaining 40 per cent of the land to government.
“The hope is that by the time this is perfected, issues of resettlement and compensation will be adequately addressed with minimal financial commitment by government,” he said.
The director said that the FCTA was committed to construction of world-class mass housing estates for accommodation of Abuja residents, thereby, eradicating slums from the city.
He added that provision of primary infrastructures in designated mass housing plots was to facilitate adequate development by the developers of such plots.
“Some mass housing estates in the FCT are slums compared to what obtains in other parts of the world; Abuja is growing rapidly and we can do better.
“But we require a huge investment in infrastructure for this to be achieved and government has shown commitment to achieving this over time.
“We invest a lot of resources in providing primary infrastructure that make it a lot easier for the developers to tap in and provide the secondary and tertiary infrastructure required for habitation,” the director said.
He said that the administration had also introduced the “property tax” to enable government generate more revenue and for citizens to make demands on government.
“The administration has also come up with the property tax which has scaled through the National Assembly.
“This will enable government improve and upgrade on existing infrastructure and provide new ones, while giving opportunity for the citizens to make demands on government concerning provision of infrastructure and social amenities,” he said.
Yusuf advised developers in the FCT to obey land use regulations to avoid demolition of their properties, adding that a five per cent charge had been placed on properties which had disobeyed the regulations.
“For developers who build commercial structures in residential areas, they will be made to pay five per cent of the cost of such building as fine.
“This fine has been so effective that some property owners have actually reverted their buildings to the appropriate designs,” he said.