FCTA begins audit of houses in satellite towns

The Department of Development Control of the FCT Administration (FCTA) is set to begin a post-development audit of houses in satellite towns in the six area councils of the FCT.

The Director of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, told journalists in Abuja yesterday that the exercise which would commence in the Dawaki area of Bwari Area Council would affect more than 15 satellite towns.

He listed Gwagwalada, Kuje, Karshi, Bwari, Kubwa and Abaji as some of the towns to be affected.

Mallam Galadima explained that because of lack of engineering designs in some of the satellite towns, the department was asked not to grant approval to some of them, noting however that, “Some of them now have such designs like Dawaki, where we are starting from. So, we are commencing the post- development audit so that those that built without approval, we can now assess them and grant them approval.

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‘’Over 15 satellite towns in the FCT will be covered, which include Gwagwalada, Kuje, Karshi, Bwari, Kubwa, Abaji.

“We have drafted a format where we’re going to divide these settlements into clusters and then the officers have been shared into clusters. They’ll go out, share this format and explain to the owners of these property the essence of the exercise so that within 21 days we’re expecting the owners of the property to submit the requisite information that we’re expecting them to do.”

He reminded residents that they could not build without approval in the FCT, adding that, “As a city, we need to have a database for the development taking place in terms of services to be rendered, in terms of property taxation, in terms of so many parametres; let’s have a database even for researches on the process of developing a capital city; which people can come and take from.’’

Our city editor reports that there are already fears of what becomes the fate of those houses that may fail the post-development audit.

But the director said, “If you build without approval, if it’s something we can approve, we can approve it as built, but if it’s something we cannot approve, we will say, ‘Sorry, this thing cannot be condoned.’’