Questions on Wasa district project

It is an incontrovertible fact that the FCTA has for long been complaining of no funds to embark on the provision of infrastructure for the many districts in the various development phases. As we were told this is what necessitated the adoption of the controversial Land Swap policy.Originally, the development of the FCC is to […]

It is an incontrovertible fact that the FCTA has for long been complaining of no funds to embark on the provision of infrastructure for the many districts in the various development phases. As we were told this is what necessitated the adoption of the controversial Land Swap policy.
Originally, the development of the FCC is to be done in phases, such that one phase is completed before the next begins. But Wasa District is a recent creation, and not even among the first four phases of the city development. Many questions arise from the choice of Wasa out of the many districts in the FCC that for very long are in the waiting list. These include those districts in the phase II that development commenced more than 20 years ago. In order of priority one would expect many parts of phase II districts like Mabushi, Katampe, Durumi and Gudu that are yet to be serviced, to be the fore runners.
Last year, it was made known by the Honourable Minister of State FCT that funds were provided in the 2013 budget for the implementation of affordable mass housing scheme in Mamusa and Wasa Districts. Perhaps, the choice of Wasa could be for the purpose of complementing the affordable mass housing project earlier mentioned. Meanwhile, according to the Mass Housing Policy, it is the allottee that provides the secondary infrastructure.
In reality, the mass housing plot owners have never lived up to their expectations of honouring the terms of their allocation. As a newly opened district by the Mohammed’s administration, Wasa is already heavily saturated with mass housing allocations. Out of the 367 hectares that made up the district, how many are devoted for the affordable housing? We believe not many, in comparison with the others that are now standing by to cash in from what is to be devoted to the less privileged.
The Minister for State was quoted to have stated that the project is in line with the establishment of FCT Satellite Town Development Agency (STDA), whose mandate is to provide infrastructural facilities and social amenities to satellite towns and rural areas of the FCT. The contradiction is that Wasa District is neither among the areas earmarked as satellite towns nor a rural area. Accordingly, the satellite towns are to serve as alternatives to those that cannot get accommodated in the city, and the STDA is the government agency to provide the infrastructure.
These are mostly in rural areas habituated by the aggrieved local indigenes. But, these satellite towns or rural areas do not have the required services and they receive very meager expenditure in comparison to a whole N28.11 billion that this administration is now going to spend off-target, on the 367-hectare Wasa District that is a part of the city and not among the FCT satellite towns.
In order to douse discontentment from the public, we learnt that the administration is positing that the houses are going to be subsidized. The question is who built the houses to be subsidized, the public or private sector? When are the houses going to be built, because it is on record that the administration previously asserted that over 90% allocated plots are not developed by the allottees. And in the absence of regulatory agency, how is the cost of sale or rent going to be monitored to ensure compliance? 2013 has already gone, what is the level of completion of affordable housing provided in that budget?
Truly the provision of infrastructure by the government is one of the most important incentives for housing affordability and we have always been advocating for that. But, the reality is Wasa is neither a satellite town nor a rural area, and there is no going to be affordable houses there when completed. The affordable housing project is only a gambit for the approval to provide the infrastructure.
This administration left the more deserving districts to choose Wasa for provision of infrastructure because it is the one that made almost all the allocations and to its favourites. From our experience, most of the allocated plots in this district are going to be subject of speculation, with the anticipated infrastructure increasing the plot’s value.