FCT residents to pay for infrastructure – Minister

FCT Minister Malam Bello Muhammad has said that residents of the territory may have to pay for infrastructure as government could no longer continue to fund it.

Muhammad said this while on a inspection tour of ongoing road projects by the FCT, being executed by Gilmort Engineering Ltd. on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said, tremendous amounts are needed for the provision of infrastructure in many of the districts of the FCT.

According to him, while it was possible in the past to develop the FCT, the reality now is that to develop each plot now requires tremendous amount of resources.

“I think it is just a matter of time, we will have no option but to ensure that every plot has to pay for itself.

”If you look at it on a plot to plot basis the cost of infrastructure for a plot is so high and if you look at what people pay to government it is so negligible,” he said.

According to him, 30 years ago when Abuja was created and people were encouraged to come in, it made a lot of sense for government to provide infrastructure.

Muhammad said this was because infrastructure had not matched the level of development, adding that this had to be so because government could no longer fund infrastructure, while allocating plot for free.

According to him, this is something that requires “all of us to really sit down as stakeholders and not just the FCT administration”.

He stated that if residents of FCT craved for first class infrastructure, they have to be willing to pay for it.

“That is why the development of the city without given due cognisance to funding and providing for infrastructure does not help the city.

”That is why you see that the city has so many districts with 100 per cent houses without infrastructure,” he said.

He commended the contractor for doing a good job based on the level of work on ground.

Mr Ben Simon, Chief Engineer, Gilmor Engineering Ltd said the company is determined to complete the project in 20 months.

He said that Phase I Guzape District HD has been completed and the company was working hard to ensure the completion of Phase II.

Our correspondent reports that the minister visited Guzape and Jahi districts of the FCT.