The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the resumption of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) land swap initiative that began under the previous administration, in a bid to boost housing and infrastructure deficits, at the nation’s capital.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had introduced the initiative which grew to about N1 trillion, under Bala Mohammed as minister of the FCT, but was later abandoned by the current administration
Under the initiative, some private investors had proposed the construction of the Centenary City, replicating the downtown sprawling city in Dubai in Nigeria that was to attract over $18 billion investment into the nation’s capital.
The initiative was also aimed at addressing infrastructure deficit in the federal capital by swapping land with private investors who would in turn provide necessary infrastructure, as well as bridge the housing gap in the growing city.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello, while briefing at the end of the FEC meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, revealed that FEC approved the resumption of the land swap following a memo he presented to the council.
Bello disclosed that although fresh amendments were made to the original form of the initiative by establishing a legal framework to protect all parties, the FCT will provide the land, while the private investors will provide all infrastructure within the allocated districts
“After a review of what has transpired over the years, and changes made, the Federal Executive Council approved that we now continue with the land swap initiative on the basis of amendments to the procedures, as well as new safeguards, introduced so that investors, the FCT, that is the government, as well as off-takers will be protected. So, this is what we discussed today.”
He added: “They will take a certain percentage of the land developable within that district, while the FCT administration will take a certain percent.
“The whole essence is to encourage the development of the city according to the master plan in designated districts and then, of course, to also resolve the issue of compensation and payment and relocation of people as the city grows, and then, of course, to reduce the overall housing deficit within the FCT.
“And what we have approved today is to establish a very solid legal system, whereby all the parties in this transaction are protected. And who are the parties, the first party is the investor, the second party is the FCT administration, while the third party are the off-takers.
“And in so doing, investors will create a special purpose vehicle, whereby the investors will come in and then the quantum of the investment will be determined on the basis of which the financial institutions will provide financial guarantees to the administration through performance bonds.
“And this performance bond will cover the totality of the project, and will be reducing as the project is being delivered.”
The minister informed that the idea of reviewing the agreement was to bring in “conditionalities that protect everybody, and all these is done based on the experience of the administration over the last few years regarding previous investments done particularly using the mass housing model, which really in terms of size is just a fraction of what we are talking.
Also speaking at the briefing, minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said he presented a note to the council on the need to be conscious of the increased number of road traffic crashes on federal highways, saying that the majority of accidents are not caused by bad roads.
He said the Lagos-Ibadan Highway, the Abuja-Kano Highway, and Abuja-Keffi-Lafia Highway, have the highest cumulative number of road accidents, saying that for the month of January 2021, more people died of road accidents than COVID-19 and malaria combined.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
