By Sarah NEGEDU
Owners of plot around Apo-Dutse and its environs have been asked to immediately begin developing such plots to avoid them being reoccupied by miscreants and destitutes .
The Federal Capital Territory Administration gave the advice on Friday, when it continued with the removal of shanties and unapproved structures at the popular Apo-Dutse scrap market.
The scrap (Pantaker) market is with over 4,000 unapproved shops and shanties, is said to have operated for several years illegally occupying a large expanse of land within a residential district.
Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah, who led the team to continue with the demolition, urged owners of the empty plots to immediately proceed to the Department of Development Control to get their building plan approval and commence development.
He warned that the administration would have no option than to revoke the titles to the plots, if the owners fail to take over the reclaimed lands.
According to him, “the place had been infiltrated by all manners of dangerous criminals, hence the need to demolish it. It is regrettable that original allottees had kept the land with the intentions to make more money.”
He further advised those who are interested in Pantaker business to move to the Gosa dumpsites, and not relocate to other illegal places.
Attah said, “What we have advised and would use this medium to notify plot owners within this area to report themselves immediately to Development Control to obtain building plan approval and commence building on their plots of land.
“If they fail to do so we will be left with no option, but to write and recommend to the minister for the revocation of all land titles, because we cannot suffer in vain clearing this place for this numbers of days, and the owners will sit down to speculate, waiting for when they will make big money.
“What we are telling them, is that the owners of this expanse of land housing the Apo-Dutse Pantaker should commence development or it will be revoked and given to those who are ready to develop.
“We have advised the operators of pantaker to move to Gosa dumpsites as they keep going to the wrong places, we will continue to go after them.
“To avoid criminalities in the scrap market, we have also advised them to move to the permanent site and develop internal mechanisms to stop criminals from infiltrating them,” he added.
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