Abuja – The FCT Administration has resolved not to allocate new plots of land until infrastructure was provided in new areas, FCT Minister Muhammad Bello has said.
Bello said this when he received a delegation of the Catholic Community led by the Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan on Wednesday in Abuja.
“The present administration will not give new allocations either now or in the near future, until such areas or districts are clearly provided with the best complements of infrastructure.”
The minister said that the policy was not aimed at stifling development, but to ensure that development goes the way it should be.
“That is by providing for the best possible infrastructure before allocations are made, so that issues like land speculation or double allocation are discouraged.”
He, however, said that lands earmarked for compensation for wrongs done or as part of amicable resolution of disputes were exempted from the arrangement, adding that the administration would give priority to these exceptions.
The minister further said that the administration would be fair in the allocation of plots earmarked for religious worship centres in the Abuja Master Plan.
The Abuja Master Plan, he noted, made provision for the need of every sector in the society, stressing that plots meant for worship centres would be equitably allocated among all religions.
“Despite the huge demand for land, this administration will try to ensure that plots meant for religious organisations are left for that purpose so that everybody is given a sense of belonging in the territory.
“The planners of Abuja have made plots available for religious bodies in all of the districts in the capital city and this administration intends to implement its land allocation policy based on this plan.
“I think this is standard practice. For every district, there are religious plots that cater for all the faiths.”
Bello urged religious bodies and other residents of the FCT to embrace out-of-court settlement of land-related disputes, to reduce the time expended in seeking resolutions at the courts, which retards development of the FCT.
Earlier, Onaiyekan thanked the minister for encouraging the inter-religious seminar that afforded religious leaders in the FCT to rub minds.(NAN)