By Peter Usman
Abuja (Nigeria) – Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration is set to address critical issues arising from the implementation and abuse of the FCT master plan.
Consequently, a stakeholders conference on “Repositioning Abuja for the Development of a Sustainable City,” is planned to hold within the first half of this year.
Similarly, the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) and other concerned agencies of the Administration have been given a matching order to implement the report of the Committee set to look into the problem of uncompleted and abandoned buildings in the FCT.
These decisions were part of the resolutions of the FCT Exco meeting held on Thursday, the 11th of January.
A memo to the Exco, the Director of Urban and Regional Planning Department, Zaliha-U Ahmed (Mrs.) was said to have identified challenges in the implementation of the Abuja Masterplan by past Administrations which resulted in a myriad of problems.
Some of these problems the memo noted include: unprecedented population explosion, land use conversion and distortion, non-adherence to the provisions of planning laws and regulations, funding challenges and resettlement issues among others.
It was against this background, FCT Exco resolved to proffer what it called practical, realistic, achievable and sustainable solutions to these identified problems.
Addressing members of the Exco, the FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello noted that what had happened to Abuja master plan was nothing new. “Every city goes through a process that requires constant review of its master plan. The good news is that it is not too late to salvage the situation.”
Bello bemoaned the challenge of funding and noted that this was why the FCT Internal Revenue Service (FCT IRS) has been reconstituted and therefore tasked the agency to focus on generating revenue to fund the provision of infrastructure in the FCT.
The Minister urged all members of the Exco to rise up to the challenge of running a working city where the laws are enforced and revenues due the Administration are collected.
AFRICA PRIME NEWS reports that the Abuja Masterplan was designed based on certain assumptions, philosophies and objectives including prevailing economic and social realities. Some of these, according to experts, have changed over time and put a strain on the continued use of those parameters for developing the city, hence the review.
In the same vein, the Administration had over times expressed concern over the spate of abandoned plots and uncompleted structures in the FCT compounding the security challenges in the city.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2017/12/18/news/nigeria-at-last-kwali-community-in-federal-capital-territory-to-enjoy-adequate-water-supply/
