The Land Swap Districts

Sector-‘N’-&O-Ph-4-South,FCC-Abuja

For the trial run of the Land Swap Initiative, the FCT chose Phase IV (South), a Greenfield district, where no allocation of land has been made. This choice is deliberate; it is the only phase in the original Abuja master plan that is undeveloped. The only technical document on the phase at the inception of the Land Swap Initiative was a structure plan of the phase, unlike Phase IV (North) whose detailed site development plan was done by Messrs. Albert Speers & Partners.

This made Phase IV (South) very suitable candidate for the Land Swap Initiative. It is divided into six sector centres with 12 districts in line with the neighbourhood concept of the Abuja master plan. The land swap programme is being implemented in two sectors: N and O sub-divided as follows:

Sector N

Ketti North district;

Ketti district;

Ketti East district; and

Sherretti district

Sector O

Sheretti Cheche district;

Burun west district;

Burun district; and

Waru Pozema

Sheretti-‘A’

According to FCT, for strategic reasons and based on risk analysis, all the districts were divided into two except Ketti North District. This district was dedicated for comprehensive development by the Chinese company, CRCC. Farouk Sani, coordinator of Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre, AIIC, explains why: “The main reason for this was because of the reputation of the company as number one construction company in the world and the fact that the honourable minister, as part of the federal government delegation to China, entered into a memorandum of understanding, MoU, with the company to dedicate a minimum of 500 hectares to the company for comprehensive development.”

The structure plan of the Phase IV land swap districts by Aedris Consultants showing the districts and their land sizes available for development:

S/N District Land Size

Ketti North 466.58
Ketti A 296.01
Ketti B 1 51.28
Sheretti A 177.98
Sheretti B 205.03
Ketti East A 182.39
Ketti East B 211.57

Sheretti Cheche A 315.08
Sheretti Cheche B 343.03
Burun West A 343.07
Burun West B 289.46
Burun A 319.40
Burun B 306.56
Waru-Pozema A 357.93
Waru-Pozema B 317.80

Prior to the commencement of the land swap programme, Dallas Caraway District, an urban fringe proximate to the high-class Asokoro District measuring approximately 222 hectares, was chosen for a pilot scheme of the Land Swap Initiative.

Selection of Investors

To ensure effective provision of infrastructure with every allocation, the FCTA searched for investors’ requisite capacities to execute project in the land swap programme. “We went into our archives to bring up all the companies that at one point or the other expressed interest in district development and also invited those that seem committed in real property development,” explained Sani.

Over 70 investors expressed interest in the comprehensive development of the selected districts, except Plethora Realty & Property Managers Limited for the Dallas Caraway district. The shortlisted investors were identified for partnership in the land swap programme:

CRCC Nigeria Limited;
Dangote Group Plc;

Urban Shelter Infrastructure Ltd;

Gilmor Engineering Limited;
Haitong Limited;
Ketti East Infrastructure Limited;

vii. Adkan Services Nigeria Limited;

viii. Ridley Group Limited;

Bolmus Nigeria Limited;
Pima International Limited;
AM-PM Global Network Limited;

xii. Rosehill Group;

xiii. First Aries Petroleum & Crude Oil Limited;

xiv. Afri-International Project Limited; and

SPDC Limited

Choice of Districts for Investors

The AIIC said great care was taken in assigning districts to investors and not arbitrarily done. “We used particular parameters in deciding what district goes to which investor. These parameters include the preference of investors, their technical and financial strengths as well as the level of their expected enthusiasm,” reveals Sani.

Except for Gilmor Nigeria Limited and Haitoing Nigeria Limited, all other companies participating in the land swap programme got the districts they indicated preference for. Gilmor wanted Ketti North but could not because it was earlier dedicated to CRCC. Likewise Haitong. However, both companies were allocated districts within the same confluence. Haitong got Ketti District while Gilmor got Ketti East.

It was not only CRCC that got its preferred choice; others were Rosehill and WADIC. Both companies indicated interest in Waru-Pozema. Hence, while Rosehill got Waru-Pozema District A, WADIC got Waru-Pozema B. It is instructive to note that the remaining companies did not indicate any preference.

The assignment of districts to investors was based on comprehensive risk analysis. “We ensured that investors are paired in such a way that there is a healthy inter-competition among and between them. We therefore paired a stronger investor in a district with another investor of lesser strength, a proactive investor with a laidback one, a more experienced investor with a lesser one, a foreign-dominated investor with a local one,” explains Sani.

All the selections were done in confidence silently. Consequently, there has been no complaint from any investor or the general public on the allocation of districts to investors. “With the benefit of hindsight, this has been one of the best decisions in the implementation of the land swap programme,” confirmed Sani.

Finally, the following 15 investors were advised to express interests in the districts mentioned against their names:

S/N Investor District

1 CRCC Nigeria Limited Ketti North

2 Dangote Group Sheretti A