Minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed
A Chinese construction company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government to develop a district of 500 hectares in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, with the aim of enhancing mass housing in the city.
President of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), Chen Xiaoxing and Minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed signed the MOU in Beijing, China.
“We are ready to help and work with you to develop Nigeria, this is a good time to develop Abuja and the China Development Bank wants to be with us in developing Abuja. We are ready to commit our resources to develop Abuja,” Mr. Xiaoxing said.
The CRCC is one of the largest and the most competitive construction enterprises in both China and abroad. It had total revenue of $75 billion in 2011.
The FCT minister said that government is reaching out to the CRCC because the company has the resources to do so.
He said: “We want to the quality of CRCC to be in Abuja, we want more assistance in Abuja. We need housing and development of primary infrastructures for the districts, I know that you can do it within the next three to four years.
“We are giving you a whole district of 500 hectares to develop in a way that would tally with our master plan and we would give you the land in commercial usage, we would not charge you premium. Roads and real estate are our priorities.”
Abuja is composed of about 101 districts and only 13 of them are developed so far.
“You have a choice to chose where you want to develop in Abuja. I have not extended this to any company in the world before,” the minister said.
