Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed has continued in his trend of developing Abuja through private initiatives with the recent signing of land swap agreement between the FCTA and four Land Swap investors, namely System Properties Development Consortium Limited, Urban Shelters Infrastructure Limited, AMPM Limited and BGD Properties Limited – all of which are tested and proven giants in infrastructure development in this country.
According to the latest agreement which was signed on September 22, 2014, these investors are to provide some N170 billion worth of infrastructure in some Land Swap districts in the Phase IV of the southern part of the Federal Capital City, Abuja.
While signing the agreement, the Minister stated that, the latest feat has the multiplier effects of creating about 500,000 new jobs in the Federal Capital Territory and it was achieved through intense negotiations and hard work between the FCTA and the land swap investors.
Again, the Minister also said; ‘this agreement ensures that about N170 billion will accrue to the FCT Administration – being the total money paid by the investors – while additional N600 to N700 billion will be recouped when 11 other investors who bid for the contract are brought on board’.
It would be recalled that the incumbent FCT Minister, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed came on board as Minister in April 2010. His carefully thought out approach to developing the FCT has yielded more democracy dividends than previous administrations when plots in such popular districts as Durumi, Wuye, Jahi, Katampe Gwarinpa and so on were delineated and fully allocated without due consideration to infrastructure. The result was that individuals and corporate institutions had land titles but could not develop them; not necessarily because they didn’t have money to develop such lands, but due to the absence of infrastructure in the districts.
But to reverse the unsavory trend of allocation of plots without consideration for infrastructure and up the momentum for standard engineering infrastructure provision in the nation’s capital, Bala Mohammed introduced Land swap as a policy.
The land swap model entails the FCT Administration granting agreed percentage of land in a Greenfield district to a developer for real property development under a special contract envisaged by the Land Use Act. In exchange for the grant, the developer is to provide primary infrastructure in the agreed district without any financial, technical or demand risk on the part of the FCTA or the Federal Government.
Land swap was devised to catalyze the development of districts within Phase IV of the Federal Capital Territory and open more doors and windows for all interested Nigerians and non-Nigerians to live, work, relax and do business in the territory. The implementation is to open up more areas of the Federal Capital City (FCC) via accelerated infrastructure provision in new districts because, in Abuja, infrastructure development must necessarily precede construction of residential, commercial, institutional and office buildings.
Under Senator Mohammed’s land swap model, the private sector is availed the incentives to provide site and services within new districts earmarked for opening. The role of the government is the provision of the policy, legal and regulatory environment for seamless private sector participation in the development of the districts. The benchmark is to provide at least 10 new districts with basic infrastructure by the year 2015.
The Minister actually set about this task in March 2012 when he kick-started the provision of engineering infrastructure in three new districts namely Jahi, Wuye and Maitama Extension, that has been renamed Goodluck District. That day too, he commissioned the crucial Guzape-Sunrise bypass to stave off perennial traffic gridlock on the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi expressway. About a month earlier, he performed the ground breaking for the provision of infrastructure to Katampe and Kagini districts all within the Federal Capital City, FCC, radius.
The federal government, FCT administration under Bala Mohammed, really deserves kudos for these innovations that have been commended by both the World Bank and the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO) as a policy that actually has the key to unlock Abuja’s huge development potentials.
Ibrahim Serki-Yaki wrote this piece from Gadowa District, Abuja