Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the resumption of the FCT land swap scheme.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the continuation of the Federal Capital Development Authority land swap programme which started under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello, disclosed this at the end of the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday.
In 2015, the House of Representatives Committee on FCT faulted the land swap programme, alleging that it is fraught with irregularities, adding that it negate the provisions of the original Abuja master plan.
The Minister stated that FEC approved the resumption of the programme following a memo he presented to the council.
The scheme which was designed to remedy the infrastructure deficit in the federal capital by swapping land with private investors who would, in turn, provide necessary infrastructure was worth about N1 trillion.
Bello explained that the essence of the programme is to encourage the development of FCT according to the master plan in designated districts.
The scheme is also meant to resolve the issue of compensation and payments and relocation of people as the city grows, and then, of course, to reduce the overall housing deficit within the FCT.
The Minister, however, stated that some amendments were made to the original form of the initiative by establishing a legal framework to protect all parties.
He said, “And who are the parties, the first party is the investor, the second party is the FCT administration, while the third party are the off takers. And in so doing, investors will create a special purpose vehicle, whereby the investors will come in and then the quantum of the investment will be determined on the basis of which the financial institutions will provide financial guarantees to the administration through performance bonds.
“And this performance bond will cover the totality of the project, and will be reducing as the project is being delivered. And then the land that is going to be used as swapping for the investment is going to be held in custody by designated financial institution, which will serve as the as the custodian. Because, of course, as milestones are being achieved, land will be released to the investors which, obviously, they will sell and use to pay for their investment.”
