By Olamide Francis
To curb traffic congestion and ensure free flow of movement, the administration of the Federal Capital Territory has, for a second time, issued a note of warning to traders and people patronizing Dutse market along the Dutse-Bwari road, Nature News gathered.
Chairman, FCTA Ministerial Task team on City Sanitation and Traffic Management, Ikharo Attah, gave the warning yesterday in Abuja during an inspection of the ongoing road project.
Attah said that the Minister, Mallam Muhammad Bello was committed to removing all traffic bottlenecks for residents to have a permanent relief.
“The market has a problem and we have been able to contain that problem. The FCTA has fenced the market even when the market is owned by the Bwari Area Council. The traders sometimes allocate the parking lots for trading of second hand items and other perishable items so we have stopped them.
“We have told them that we won’t allow anyone to occupy the parking lot because when the parking lot is been occupied, everyone will be parking on the main road and that will be putting more pressure on the road.
“We have warned the market managers and they have given us the assurance that they won’t allow traders to come and trade on the parking lot and not allow those coming into the market to park on the road.
“Everything must be done inside the market because even by planning and engineering law, you can’t even take access from the primary road, but since we have allowed that because the back is an organic settlement, then they should also do what is right else the FCTA will have no option than to seal the market for the second time,” Attah revealed.
Attah noted that the road project would have been completed before now, but the EndSARS protest and other challenges slowed the work. Earlier, the Director, Satellite Town Development Department (STDD), Felix Nwankwo, disclosed that the road is almost 90 per cent complete, stating that the only thing remaining is the wearing curve and some portions with small cable works