FCTA To Review 85bn Wasa Housing Arrangements With Contractors

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has called for the review of the FCTA Apo-Wasa housing development arrangements with the contractors to meet with the current financial reality.

The Minister who made this known during an inspection tour of the Satellite Town Development Department, STDD, said the government would no longer provide land and infrastructure to private developers without negotiating how much the masses should pay for such houses upon completion.

While expressing his dissatisfaction over the delay in the execution of the project that was awarded in 2014, the Minister lamented that the variation cost of the project has multiplied from the initial twenty-six billion naira to eighty-five billion naira.

According to him, it was worrisome that a nine-year-old contract had only attained a little over 20% level of completion.

Wike assured that the FCT Administration would no longer continue to provide infrastructure on lands for contractors to build on and make exorbitant gains for themselves.

“We are not impressed with the arrangement made by the FCT. The government cannot just cough out N85 billion in providing infrastructure and then give land out to private developers who will build and sell.

This kind of arrangement is not commendable at all. We think that the government must also participate, having provided the land and infrastructure.

If we are partnering with private individuals or developers, the common sense is that you provide the land, and provide infrastructure and they come and develop.

“Then government for example can take 10 percent and the developers take 90 percent, depending on the value,” Wike said.

Earlier, the acting Coordinator, of the Satellite Town Development Department, Mr. Olusegun Olusan, confirmed that the contract for the provision of the infrastructure was awarded in 2014 at the sum of N26 billion but revised to N85 billion in 2018.