The FCT Administration has
commenced the building of 3,789 houses in three resettlement camps
for the resettlement of the Federal Capital Territory original
inhabitants.
The FCT Director of
Resettlement and Compensation, Mr. Festus Esekhile made this known
after the weekly FCT Executive Committee meeting in Abuja .
The director said these
resettlement camps are located in Apo, Galywi/Shere and Wasa in the
Abuja Municipal, Bwari and Kwali Area Councils of the Federal
Capital Territory with costs to build houses in the various
resettlement camps a ranging from 2.3 billion Naira, 7.5 billion
Naira and 2.9 billion Naira respectively.
Mr. Esekhile while revealing
that this amount of money excludes infrastructure that will be
handled by the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) assured
that all major resettlement from the Federal Capital City would be
completed in the next 30 months.
According to him, since the
advent of the present administration of Nasir el-Rufai in 2003, over
one billion Naira has been paid as compensation for economic trees
and other sundry material in farm land.
The director disclosed that
this year will witness a remarkable progress in resettlement and
compensation because over 900 million Naira has been earmarked in
the 2007 budget for that purpose.
When asked on the state of the
demolished Arewa Hospital in Accra Street, the director stated that
when development sprang up in the area, the Federal Capital
Development Authority ordered and marked Arewa Hospital "for stop
work" in 1998 which was ignored by the owner; adding that when that
stop work order was given, the property was valued at N4.3 million.
He insisted that the authority
is only obliged to pay compensation for the initial value of when
order was issued; saying that any development afterwards can not be
paid as it is the practice worldwide.
The director advised media men
to always balance their stories by giving the opponents an
opportunity to be heard.