The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has ordered the removal of at least 5,000 shanties and other illegal developments in the Gishiri village extension area of Katampe District.
Also removed were unapproved buildings in a green area, which covers hectares of land space around the foot of the Katampe hill, designated and reserved for the development of a multipurpose recreational area, and makeshift structures erected along the road corridors in the vicinity.
Speaking during the exercise on Wednesday, the Development Control Department’s District Monitor for Katampe and Mabushi, Samson Atureta, explained that the enforcement team, following due procedure, obtained necessary approvals for the removal of the encroachments.
Atureta said the team was in Gishiri to continue the removal of encroachments in the area, an ongoing effort with the aim to reclaim the plots for their legal allottees.
According to him, people who have the right allocations to the plots couldn’t take possession, as over time, some individuals have been dividing and selling parts of the plots as local land, and others have been buying and developing them.
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“Those are the houses we have continued to remove today, so that the rightful allottees will take over their plots. And you could see that there are some new perimeter fences coming up, which are being erected by the rightful allottees.
“We needed to follow due procedures, and that’s why we are here after we got approval to remove the encroachments, so we have been doing it in bits, now we are about 60-70 per cent in the removal of the illegalities there.
“And since we started, we must have removed at least 5,000 shanties or illegal developments in Gishiri,” he stated.
He further explained: “Also, people have started building in a green area, which covers hectares of land space around the foot of the hill, which we are reclaiming, as the place is for recreation. So we are reclaiming that for the developer of the recreational area to take possession of the place. It is a continuation of what we had started, so that we make Gishiri a serene place.
“We are reaching out to the rightful owners of the encroached plots that we can get in contact with. There are some that had submitted their building plans for approval, but we couldn’t process them because there were indigenous persons there. In fact, some of them are the ones reaching out to us as they have complained overtime about
encroachment on their plots.”
It was observed that the FCT Development Control Department officials, backed by a joint team of security personnel, stormed the area with one bulldozer and two excavators, and removed the structures bearing its demolition markings situated on legally allocated plots, with only structures with legal approval for development being left untouched in the area.
