To control illegal development and the distortion of the Abuja Master Plan, the Nigeria Federal Capital Territory Development Control Department (DCD) has again raided some mega buildings construction sites in Wuse II and Central Business District of Nigeria capital Abuja.

Officials of the development control Department h accompanied by a joint team of security operatives stormed the place with their bulldozer and removed some contravening structural elements of a mega residential building located at Seguela street, Wuse II.

The men equally evacuated construction materials and waste, allegedly causing flooding in the area.

Still, in the course of ensuring a degree of sanity in the built and unbuilt environment, the officials also visited and issued a stop-work notice on an elongated Bungalow by the perimeter fence of an edifice undergoing renovations, adjacent Ministry of Transport building in the Central Area.

Speaking to Newsmen after the exercise, Assistant Director, Building Inspectorate, North Division of the Development Control Department, Engineer Mohammed Hadi, decried the level of infringement of the contractor handling the project.

Hadi, who is in charge of the area, said the officials were at the construction sites, to stop the contractor and developer, as their actions were not by the Abuja Master plan.

He explained that approval granted to the developer on 20 August 2020 is for five suspended floors (deckings), which has already reached that level, but from the DCD’s observations, there is a clear intention that the contractor wants to make an additional floor.

In his words, ” The contractor also failed to submit design and details of the building, so subsequent stages of building approval were not granted. They are not supposed to be working, since a committee was set up to look at the whole thing and proposed a way forward to the management, but they didn’t even allow us to finish the work, as they resume work on site.

“We have mechanized cutters (tools that cut both concrete and steel), which we intend to use to cut the extra structural elements that are not supposed to be in place”, he stressed.

He adds that; “the neighbors have complained that the contractor’s crane used to cross their compound, so it’s liable to accident, as it may experience a slip or whatever, and we equally issued a caution, but up till it has been removed.

“There is a heap of construction materials and waste outside the building, which is also a contravention as it’s a threat to others in the area, as they blocked the drains along the road, because of their activities”.

Similarly, Hope Thompson, an Assistant Director with the DCD, who led officials to the contravening site in Central Area, warned that the Department at the expiration of the mandatory 21 days abatement notice will demolition the Bungalow causing infractions on the site.

According to him, “We served them for about two weeks ago, so we are counting, and the of the mandatory 21 days notice, we are coming to remove the structure.

“We had served them the relevant notice, they are still working. So we are waiting for the time to elapse so that nobody will accuse us of not abiding by the rules of engagement.

“People are used to violating our rules, and even at the time when it’s disclosed, they found it difficult to abide by the notices”.