SIX REGIONAL OFFICES CREATED FOR ABUJA DEVELOPMENT
Ben Ukeji & Prudence Okonna
The Federal Capital Territory Executive Committee has approved the creation of ‘FCT Regional Development Offices’ to monitor and safeguard the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan and ensure sanity in the development of the satellite towns and the Area Councils.
A statement signed by the Director, of Information and Communication, FCT, Muhammad Hazat Sule, indicated that the decision for the creation of the offices was taken at the 10th FCT EXCO Meeting held Monday, in Gwarimpa I District, Abuja.
The meeting, which was chaired by the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, expressed displeasure over the abuse of the Abuja Master Plan, where people build indiscriminately. The establishment of the six Regional Development Offices is, therefore, expected to address this anomaly in the Area Councils and Satellite Towns of the Territory.
According to the statement, the newly created offices are expected to monitor all physical developments to conform with Planning Regulations as contained in the Regional Master Plan of Abuja.
“The Planning Regulation will be enforced to prevent the springing up of squatter settlements because the Area Councils and Satellite Towns are all integral parts of the Federal Capital Territory and must be developed in consonance with the Master Plan of Abuja,” the EXCO emphasized.
The EXCO instructed the stakeholder Departments of Land Administration; Urban & Regional Planning; Survey & Mapping as well as Development Control respectively to henceforth, deploy competent officials to these Regional Offices.
While the Regional Offices are to work and liaise with their Head Offices in the City, the FCT Administration insisted that it will not fold its arms to allow the springing up of squatter communities.
The entire land within the 8,000 square kilometers of the Federal Capital Territory, whether urban or regional is planned and developments in these areas will have to be in line with the physical planning as envisioned by the founding fathers of Abuja.
It will be recalled that the Abuja Master Plan has witnessed a lot of abuses leading to the distortion of the physical development; thereby, negatively impacting its aesthetic beauty.
