FCDA demolishes N2.5bn estate in Abuja

FCDA demolishes N2.5bn estate in Abuja




The Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished a 14-unit semi-detached-duplex estate in the Apo District of the capital city.


The demolished estate, worth about N2.5 billion, according to the construction engineer, contained 48 living rooms and two duplex school apartments, was said to have reached a 90 per cent completion.


The Project Manager of the estate, Samuel James Eyesore, said: “On Thursday last week, while we were working at the site at about 2.00pm, we saw an 18-passenger Coaster Bus with development control officials, a bulldozer and an Hilux-pickup van carrying armed mobile policemen numbering about 20.


“An officer of the department led the team. I tried to as much as possible for him to give me audience but all to no avail.” He said they were not given any reason for their actions, but pointed out that before the day of the incident, they were told that the land upon which they were building was meant for a nursery and primary school.


“They said we should go back and verify the original plan on the land in the office of Regional Planning of the department and do the necessary things, which we did. We have the acknowledgement letter of the office in our possession.


“I tried to explain this to the leader of the team but he did not give me any opportunity. They told us to go and apply for 10 hectares of land initially, which was allocated to us including this place, which they now demolished and without this place, the 10 hectares will not be completed. We have buildings for nursery and primary school in this, so I don’t know what their problem is”, he argued.


One of the site engineer, who spoke to Daily Sun on condition of anonymity alleged that some officials of the development control had earlier demanded the sum of N7 million from the authorities of the estate, out of which about N5 million had been given to them.


He stressed that the alleged officials had recently threatened to let heaven loose if they failed to pay the remaining N2 million as expected but that they were pleading for more time before this development.
But responding, the Public Relations Officer of Development Control, Mrs. Juicy Mudasiru, in a telephone chat dismissed the allegations saying that it was an attempt to blackmail FCTA.


According to her, “the God’s Own Estate committed an encroachment on school plot. They were served with quit notice sometimes in 2008 but they ignored it. We have after then been served them with several quit notices but they have refused to comply. “On allegations of money collection by our officials, if they have any evidence to that effect, we will be very happy if they bring it forward so that we can use it to trace the culprits and act appropriately,” the PRO noted.

COUNTRY WITH THE WORLD'S FASTEST INTERNET SPEEDS

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.


The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) -- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.


Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said.


It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 -- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.


"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."


"People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," the report said.


It said 18 percent of those who took a US speed test recorded download speeds that were slower than 768 kilobits per second, which does not even qualify as basic broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission.


Sixty-four percent connected at up to 10 mbps, 19 percent connected at speeds greater than 10 mbps and two percent exceeded 25 mbps.


The United States was ranked 20th in broadband penetration in a survey of 58 countries released earlier this year by Boston-based Strategy Analytics.


South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.


US President Barack Obama has pledged to put broadband in every home and the FCC has embarked on an ambitious project to bring high-speed Internet access to every corner of the United States.


According to the CWA report, the fastest download speeds in the United States are in the northeastern parts of the country while the slowest are in states such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.