Insecurity, Population Surge Force Review Of Abuja Master Plan

Indications have emerged that rising population growth and unexpected developments such as insecurity may have pushed the Federal Capital Authority Administration (FCTA) to initiate the review of Abuja master plan.

Hints of the review of the nation’s capital master plan were dropped yesterday by the executive secretary of the FCTA, Engr Shehu Hadi Ahmed. He said the FCTA had concluded plans to embark on a comprehensive review of Abuja master plan.

Ahmed made this disclosure yesterday in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Abuja Branch, 2022 Engineering Week held in Abuja.

He said, “The obvious thing is that the Abuja master plan is not sacrosanct and it is due for a general review.
“We are already looking at the general review of the Abuja master plan to accommodate some of the issues that are not actually envisaged arising from the population and also from some of the inclusion of may be areas that are not really envisaged.
“We are planning to take a general review of the plan and this is the issue that is already in process. Where we will invite all stakeholders to come, especially what you have seen. Initially the master plan was for three phases but there was a provision for expansion to the North, and South but now we have development outside the boundary. So, we have to sit down and articulate them and organize them into ground layout, not just what we see elsewhere.
“If you check, Dawaki is well planned, Katampe extension is different from what you have seen in other places and Apo is a little bit planned but there is something that needs to be done.
“The original Apo resettlement was made to accommodate the indigenes that were moved from there so it was a little bit planned but it is not the same when you moved elsewhere,” he said.