Flooding: FCTA task force removes over 400 illegal houses in Gwarinpa

The Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, on Thursday, commenced the removal of over 400 illegal houses in Gwarinpa, Abuja

The over 400 illegal structures were illegally converted from corner shops to residential buildings and others were covering the waterways, were removed by the team of Development Control and FCT Task Force.

Director, Development Control Department, Murkhtar Galadima, who spoke to journalists at the venue, lamented the poor hygiene and sanitation, in the area said wastes are being released directly into the stream and this is a time bomb waiting to explode.

According to him, “These places you are seeing are not supposed to be houses, they were actually corner shops but people have converted them to residential abode. We have over 400 shops that were converted to residential buildings.

“We are working with Federal Housing Authority, we had some discussions with them on how to convert it into a modern mall but for now the thing that is called corner shops is not being used for that particular purpose, it is used as residential buildings. And when you look at the number of people staying here, the hygiene and sanitation are zero so for safety reasons it is better to remove them,” he stated.

The Director speaking on notice of demolition, said they were given one month notice, “We gave them over a month notice, I remember we came here for sensitisation and we marked it. When you go round you see the markings on the wall.”

He decried the fact that people built on waterways, “What we are trying to do is to recover the flood plain within Gwarinpa, People built on waterway. The area is not properly planned because they are just discharging their waste directly to the stream. And this could be a source of the epidemic, so it is a time bomb waiting to happen. If we don’t take action immediately the consequences are unimaginable.

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“Definitely I will advise them not to interfere with water channels and to also tell others that guilty that we are coming for them.”

The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement to the minister of FCT, Ikahro Attah, said he was shocked at the level of illegality in that area.

“I am very surprised at the level of illegality here, thanks to Development Control who spotted this illegality here. People decided to build on waterway, constructing on stream making this area Gwarinpa prone to flooding.

“They even pushed the stream to a point that if there is heavy rain, there will be massive flooding and this is a disaster waiting to happen. Very sad here, the FCTA through Federal Capital Territory, Emergency Management Agency, FEMA and other components agencies had given warning, the Federal Government had given warning through the water resources, NIMET also warned against impending flooding.

“But people decided to build on the flood plain and they are arguing about 15 meters but they built zero meters some are on minus 3 meters and thereby constricting the waterway so when disaster struck, they will say Government is not serious. And that is why we are removing all of them by the water corridor.”

On the number of houses that would be removed, he said, the work is still ongoing but all houses on the water plain are going, “We are counting them, we don’t know the number yet. The Development Control are really showing commitment to saving lives so that flooding would not happen in Gwarinpa.

“The FCTA is really committed to ensuring lives are not lost as a result of flooding.”

He lamented that; “Not even one soak away in the whole community, once they defecate, urinate everything comes straight to the stream, they cannot dig soak away because it is a water bed. Once anyone defecates in his house it comes to the stream and that is an epidemic a disaster that is waiting to happen. We are also trying to prevent flooding so that when the rain comes, it will have a wilder flood plain to pass through.”

Lawrence Bajah