Abuja master plan not fully implemented - Minister

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu has said that if the Abuja Master Plan was implemented the way it was initially planned, it would have achieved a resilient city status by now.

Resilient cities are cities that have the ability to absorb, recover and prepare for future shocks (economic, environmental, social and institutional).

She said, however, that the FCT administration have started a review of the comprehensive master plan since 2017 to enable a well-informed review.

The minister who spoke at the 2019 Town Planners week called on teamwork within departments in the FCTA to achieve a resilient city beyond 2020.

Aliyu who was represented by the FCT Director Department of Urban and Regional planning, Hajiya Zaliha’u Ahmed, added that all developments causing flood as well as developments on the road corridors will be removed.

She said that by implementing the Abuja Master Plan to the letter, Abuja was going to achieve a resilient city.

Declaring the conference open, the Chairman of the FCT chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) Garba Jibrin, said this year’s theme focuses on Abuja’s resilience beyond 2020.

Jibrin explained that Abuja as a city in recent years has experienced a wide variety of shocks such as population inflow, explosions, natural and human disasters like the flood in Lokongoma, Kwali and Abuja Municipal and the earth tremor in Mpape area.