The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved resumption of the land swap initiative by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) which was introduced by the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.
Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Mohammed Musa Bello, said this at the end of the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said some amendments were made to the original initiative, by establishing a legal framework to protect all parties.
“Today at the Federal Executive Council meeting, I presented a memo and an update on the FCT Land Infrastructure Swap Initiative and after a lot of deliberations, the council approved that initiative, which is popularly known as land swap, which was commenced some time ago by the previous FCT administration.
“After a review of what has transpired over the years and also changes made, the Federal Executive Council approved that we should now continue with the Land Swap Initiative on the basis of amendments to the procedure as well as the new safeguards introduced so that investors, the FCT; that is the government as well as off-takers will be protected,” he said.
The minister said the initiative is between the FCT administration and the private sector towards enhancing development within the districts in the Federal Capital Territory.
“The Land Swap Initiative is basically an initiative between the FCT administration and the private sector. That is, provision of infrastructure as a means of district development whereby the private sector investors will provide the entire infrastructure within a particular district and then they will be paid back in land.
“They will take a certain percent of the land developable within the district while the FCT administration will take a certain percent.
“The whole essence is to encourage home ownership, development of the city according to the master plan in designated districts and to also resolve the issue of compensation and relocation of the people as the city grows as well as reduce the overall housing deficit within the FCT,” he said.
