The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Muhammed, on Tuesday said its Development Control Department would demolish 31 housing estates in the territory to restore the Abuja Master Plan.
Muhammed made this known in Abuja on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on the FCT, to defend the FCT 2013 budget proposals.
He said the Federal Capital Development Territory Administration was empowered by relevant laws to carry out demolition of illegal structures in any part of the territory.
He accused developers of the 31 housing estates of going ahead to build houses in disobedience of several warnings for them to stop work on the sites.
“We will go ahead to demolish the 31 estates because the FCDA has a law for demolition and the Abuja master plan cannot be compromised.
“I don't even have to interfere with Demolition Control law under the Land Use Act.
“There is a lot of impunity in Abuja and we have evidence where we tell developers not to go on with building without master plan, but they will not heed.
“After all processes, if we discover that they are illegal, especially if they tamper with the Abuja master plan, we will demolish them,” he said.
The minister attributed the prevailing problem of illegal buildings in the FCT to “lack of guidelines” to regulate housing development.
He told the committee that the government plans to develop some affordable housing programmes in the territory under agreement with foreign investors.
“Unfortunately when accelerated development programme was put in place, there was no guideline. Most Nigerians are gullible and were just paying.
“For Nigerians wishing to secure affordable houses, we are coming with estates as an American investor has come.
“Abuja Properties Limited is going to build about 100 hectares so that we would bring houses to the threshold of affordability for Nigerians who cannot afford these high brow areas,” he said.
The minister presented a N50 billion estimate for the FCT 2013 national priority budget for ongoing development of infrastructural facilities in the territory.
He said that the FCT was allocated N46.2 billion in the 2012 appropriation as its national priority budget out which N37.3 billion had been released so far.
Muhammed said the FCT was still owing contractors N26 billion for projects that were already completed bringing the performance of the budget to 75 per cent.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Smart Adeyemi, said the committee would embark on oversight visit to inspect ongoing projects to assess the level of work before looking into the Statutory Budget of the FCT.
The committee urged the FCT Ministry to place emphasis on the development of the agricultural sector which it observed was lagging behind other sectors.
