FCTA threatens to change Karshi-Apo road contractor

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has said the FCT Administration may be forced to hire another contractor to take over construction work on the Karshi/Ara/Apo alternative route linking the Abuja city centre to the northern axis of the country. The minister who expressed sadness that work on that road has remained uncompleted against […]

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has said the FCT Administration may be forced to hire another contractor to take over construction work on the Karshi/Ara/Apo alternative route linking the Abuja city centre to the northern axis of the country.

The minister who expressed sadness that work on that road has remained uncompleted against all expectations, said the administration is trying to see how it could redress the challenges being faced by the current contractor. It warned, however, that it might be forced to look for alternatives, should the challenges persist.

Malam Bello spoke while receiving the Managing Director/CEO of Army Post-Service Housing Development Limited, Brig. Gen. Mahe Bashir, who paid him a visit in Abuja.

Malam Bello noted that the intervention being done by the army in the area of providing housing facilities for its officers and men has brought a lot of benefits to both retired and serving members of the army, as well as civilians.

He said the FCT Administration would continue to provide land   for the army  to continue its various  projects.

The minister, however, called on the Army Post-Service Housing Development Limited and all other mass housing developers to ensure that all the housing schemes they are embarking upon adhere strictly to all the housing regulations in the FCT to make the process of individual title documentation and certification easier.

“It is very important also to ensure that all the estates are built based on approved plans from the relevant authorities and departments of the FCTA. We have had instances of organizations that go into projects without seeking the necessary approvals. Invariably, that tends to distort planning in the city and development control generally.’’

On illegal sales of plots, the minister emphasised that no individual, entity or community is authorised to sell land; adding, “each land you see in the FCT is earmarked for a specific purpose based on the Master Plan and the Master Plan is a document that is very important.’’

Malam Bello re-assured that the FCT Administration would give Certificates of Occupancy to individual beneficiaries of houses within the Mass Housing Projects in the territory soon.

He said, “We are working out the modalities whereby all the estates within the FCT, every house and every flat will be issued a C of O because that’s the only way you can make the properties more flexible in terms of ownership, in terms of transferring title and even as a way of investment and value.”

The minister promised that the project would commence from the Army Post-Service Housing Scheme in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, in earnest.

The Managing Director/CEO of the Army Post-Service Housing Development Limited, Brig. Gen. Mahe Bashir, said  the organization, a commercial entity registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, is involved in  housing development for its officers and men as well as the general public and has developed 26 estates so far across the country.

General Bashir solicited for plots of land in the Federal Capital Territory to provide affordable houses particularly for its officers and men presently fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the North East of the country.