FCTA Set To Review Development Control

The Federal Capital
Territory Administration (FCTA) said it has concluded plans to review the FCT Development Control manual.
The Director, Development Control of the FCTA, Mr. Yahaya Yusuf who made this known in a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja said that the review would accommodate current changes in the population and utilization of infrastructure in the FCT.
“The level of compliance with the old manual was encouraging, but the area of implementation had been problematic, resulting to demolition of some structures.
“The last review was done in 2007, and it addressed structural changes that we had at that time. The status of Abuja as a city attracts huge populations which necessitates a review of the manual to accommodate the increasing population”, he said.
The coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Mr. Reuben Okoya, said the stakeholders meeting was necessary to accommodate inputs for construction and real estate professionals.
“The FCT Administration has granted the review committee additional six weeks to enable these further consultations with stakeholders.
“This is to elicit additional input that can make the manual more robust to be able to cope with the ever changing realities of the territory”, he stated.
Okoya said that the need to accommodate the growing population of FCT residents also informed the introduction of the land swap policy.
“Only recently, the FCT minister performed the foundation laying ceremony of the FCT land swap programme.
“This programme is aimed at tapping from private sector resources to surmount the daunting infrastructure challenges in the territory.
“This initiative, with the expected seamless resettlement of communities affected by the city’s growth process, would be accommodated in the review manual”, Okoya said.
The FCT minister, Bala Mohammed, had inaugurated the committee to carry out a broad based review of the development control manual for FCT.