Update:Houses to be demolished in part of Abuja

The Department of Development Control of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council has said all structures being demolished in different parts of the FCT were illegally erected.

The Department, in a statement lamented that "village Heads without recourse to existing statutory provisions were illegally selling plots to unsuspecting developers in need of accommodation, who also went ahead to develop them without building plan approval."

The Department which last Thursday pulled down some illegal structures in Daki-biyu community in Abuja, said the illegal structures removed include " batchers, kiosks, shanties and structures which were developed without legal titles to land and building plan approval."

"The structures were mainly built on lowland and water lodged areas, thereby obstructing the free flow of water in the area especially during the rainy season.

Also removed, were the houses built and are encroaching into other people's plot," the statement said.

The District Officer in charge of the Area, who led the team, Ismaila Adamu, during a media chat at the site, said all the affected houses at the area were marked earlier.

"We marked all these houses that we are removing now. We also served the illegal developers adequate notices to stop work and quit site last year. We also served them demolition notices early this year, but they refused to comply," Adamu said.

In a related incident, the Department said it has embarked on the demolition along Bwari-Dutse road.

Assistant Director in charge of Monitoring & Enforcement, Nathaniel Atebije, while explaining the reason for the exercise, said the FCT Water Board had informed the Department of houses that encroached on a major pipeline linking Gurara Dam and the Lower Usma Dam.

He said the need to carry out removal of such encroachment became imminent because of the implication of the illegal development to the maintenance of the pipeline.

According to the Assistant Director, "only the houses that fall within 25meters from the said pipeline are being removed and called on all other illegal developers to desist from such act as the removal of such structures is continuous."

He added that owners of illegal structures had pleaded for final grace period to enable them remove valuable parts of the houses on their own, adding that the Department has given them one week and that the exercise will commence thereafter.

Meanwhile, the four Dutse Communities, Dutse-Pe, Dutse Alhaji, Dutse Makranta and Dutse Sokale have dragged the Development Control to court for marking and enmarking their structures, saying that their action was illegal.