Why FCTA Demolished UTC Shopping Complex
Eko Hot Blog reports that as the popular UTC Shopping Complex finally goes down in ruins, the Federal Capital Territory Administration ( FCTA) said the over 30 years old complex had to be demolished to give way for the needed remodeling of the place.
UTC, one of the most popular shopping centers in the FCT, is widely regarded as the major hub for various forms of printing and allied businesses in the nation’s capital.
The administration said the structure was overdue for restructuring to fit into a Shopping Complex model required to grow SMEs to address global business needs and challenges.
A Deputy Director, Monitoring and Inspection, Department of Development, Hassan Ogbole said the structures were defective and there was a need to upgrade them to the standard that will meet global business standards.
Ogbole noted that provision had been made for the traders and other occupants of the Complex to enable reconstruction of the place.
He also stated that enough notices have been given to the occupants of the place, to enable them to move out and allow the construction to start, but many of them refused to vacate, while some deliberately refused to move out.
He said:” The place is in a state of disrepair, the place is no longer habitable for occupation and business activities. The place has to give way to a New development.
“The company handling the development has informed Development Control and we are here to enforce compliance. We have given them enough notice for them to remove their goods, to enable us to start the work”.
Also Speaking, the Secretary, Command and Control, FCTA Department of Security, Peter Olumiji said demolishing the Complex was also needed to curtain the security challenges in the Area.
Olumiji noted that apart from restructuring the place to meet global standards, there was a need to curtail the criminal activities prevalent in the place.
He disclosed that plans to remodel the place were carefully designed to end the thuggery that rubbishes the image of the place, especially faking of official documents.
Meanwhile, traders at the trading complex allege that there was no prior notice of demolition, although they had been instructed to move into an incomplete structure nearby for the remodeling of the market.
Chairman of the Traders Union at the market Bright Nnanna accused the FCTA of not carrying traders and stakeholders along in its plans to remodel the market and described the alternative structure provided as inhabitable.
One of the traders in the Complex, Samuel Onuchukwu, said the traders and other occupants of the Complex were worried because the temporary site provided for the developers, was not secured for business.
Onuchukwu disclosed that many of the traders were yet to remove their goods and property from the shops and offices.
According to him, they woke up early in the morning on Saturday to learn that the whole UTC area had been barricaded, and demolition was ongoing, while their wares were still trapped.
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