Nigeria Content Online

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is set to generate its
electrical energy from waste, Bala Mohammed, the minister of FCT said yesterday
in a meeting with the senate committee on FCT on Tuesday in Abuja.

The minister said the city has enough sewage and other wastes to
fuel the power plant for 10 years. “I have discussed with President Goodluck
Jonathan and he gave us the go ahead to conduct a feasibility study on the
project,” he said. He added that the feasibility study showed that the city’s
waste pile can generate enough electricity to power the city centre and its
suburbs. “We will convert waste to power, enough to power the FCT,” he added.

The power plant is one of the infrastructural development
projects the minister says he intends to achieve in his administration. Besides
the power plant, the minister also said he is restructuring the estate
development policy and the tenancy law to discourage “suit case developers” and
protect tenants from harsh demands by the developers respectively.

Urban planning and
control

“We will not continue to condone suit case developers who will
carry lands in their suit cases for profiteering rather than develop them,” Mr.
Bala said. He added that since the past eight years, only about 2.8 percent of
the lands given out to developers have been fully developed.

Meanwhile, demographic statistics indicate that about 50, 000
people and settle in the FCT every month. The senate committee chairman,
Abubakar Sodangi (PDP Nasarawa state) had earlier told the minister how
dissatisfied his committee was with the disproportionate growth of
infrastructure and human population in the city.

Mr. Sodangi, however, blamed the unbalanced growth on the inability of the
past ministers. “FCT transport sector is in a serious state of disarray or
chaotic,” he said. According to the minister, the intended tenancy law will
outlaw the requirement of paying more than one year rent from tenants.

He added that regulating the rates charged by landlords will reduce the
incidence of corruption, arguing that the cut-throat cost of rent, and the
demand for two or three years advance rent by landlords fuels corruption. He,
however, stated that the new tenancy law will also protect the interest of
developers. “There is need for a tenancy law that is in tandem with our micro
economy,” he said.