The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will sustain the ongoing demolition of illegal structures in Mpape community.
The Chairman of FCTA Ministerial Task force on City Sanitation, Mr Ikharo Attah, made the disclosure shortly after a clean up exercise in the area.
Attah said that the demolition became necessary following the return of shanties barely one week after the first demolition.
He said that the demolition, originally planned for three weeks would be extended, to discourage the re-emergence of illegal structures along the Mpape road corridor.
Attah said that the task force would give special attention to Mpape community until the shanties were completely cleared of illegal structures.
“Today we are back to Mpape for what appears to be the most massive job since we came into Mpape community.
” We have begged residents of the area to vacate the road side where we are having enormous challenges because of the scrap market sitting on the road bed.
“The challenges of the roadside is also occasioned by the old shanty market that is badly bastardized in terms of urban and regional town planning use and practices.
” So we had to torch the Panteka Market as well as the shanty market which are clearly a violation of town planning and the Abuja master plan.
“We thought the clean up in Mpape will be done in three weeks, but what we have seen so on ground shows that the operation clean up Mpape will last till the end of 2021, “he said.
According to him, the taskf orce would not leave Mpape till the end of this year to ensure proper periodic clean up of the area.
Attah said that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello had handed over Mpape to the task force to rid the area of shanties and all illegality.
According to him, if at the end of the exercise, the minister is not satisfied, the operation will be extended.
Also, the Secretary, FCTA, Command and Control of the Security Department, Mr Peter Olujimi, assured that the operation would be sustained.
He disclosed that the Panteka market had become a hideout for criminals for years.
Olujimi added that the demolition of the market would check criminal activities in the area.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Aug. 11, the FCTA rolled out its bulldozers, pulling down over 2, 000 illegal structures in the area.
Most of the affected structures were roadside shanties, containers and others said to be obstructing traffic flow.
The exercise came after over three months of official notices and warnings to owners and occupants of the said structures. (NAN)