Abuja – The House of Representatives Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has disclosed that it was ready, and would soon commence investigation into implementation of the land swap policy of the territory, introduced during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Chairman of the Committee, Herman Hembe who disclosed this to journalists after the meeting of the committee said that the purpose of the investigations was to determine the effectiveness and otherwise of the policy, level of infrastructural development in the designated districts as well as benefits therefrom.
Addressing newsmen on the readiness of the committee to thoroughly look into how the policy was implemented, Chairman of the Committee Herman Hembe said other areas the panel has gotten the mandate of the House to beam its searchlights on was to unravel the status and ownership of some plots of lands in highbrow areas of the city. ”
The House passed a resolution mandating this committee to establish the status of undeveloped plots in highbrow areas of Abuja with fully serviced infrastructure.
The idea is for the committee to identify such plots and recommend what should be done with them.
“You are aware that when you are given a land, you are also given the terms of development and time frame within which you are expected to develop the plot. There are eight districts where these land swap arrangements had taken place and we are going to look at all these areas in our investigation,” he stated.
According to Hembe, the committee would in addition determine the number of abandoned capital projects within the territory and make appropriate recommendations that would form the resolution of the House for onward transmission to the executive for consideration and implementation.
“Another issue is the issue of abandoned projects in the territory, and to identify such projects and also find out why they were abandoned and suggest measures toward ensuring that such is not repeated again.
“I’m aware of about 840 hectres of land given to a private company, it was said that government couldn’t provide infrastructure for the development of the land and so, the company still possesses that property illegally,” he said.
He explained that the essence of the investigation was not to witch-hunt anybody, but to make the records straight for the good of the masses, adding that while some plots that were alloted to people were lying fallow, there were investors ready to develop the areas for the common good of the people.
“Most of the leg work would be done by members of this committee. The abandoned capital projects that exist in the FCT are enormous. We will ask for the documents and we don’t think that should take more than a day or two in terms of the hearing. The Minister has promised to make relevant documents available to the committee,” Hembe assured.
