No fewer than 11 buildings made up of three and four-bedroom flats were demolished on Thursday in Apo-Dutse by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

FCTA director of development control Mukhtar Galadima said the development followed the failure of the developer to abide by building regulations and disregard all communications and notices.

Mr Galadima also said that the demolition of the buildings became imperative due to the location of the estate. According to him, the estate is not only under high tension but also obstructing an upcoming bridge planned for the area.

“This is a statutorily allocated plot. They requested approval and applied for building plan approval, which we declined due to the fact that it’s in close proximity to a high-tension line as well as a stream channel. So, we declined to grant approval, but they moved ahead to work.

“We have been serving notices, even from the excavation stage and various stages of development. We even communicated to them in writing that the work should be stopped. But unfortunately, maybe considering their institution and agency, they moved on,” he explained.

Mr Galadima also said that the engineering department of the FCDA wrote to his department on plans to construct a bridge on the particular section of the district.

“So, there’s nothing we can do about this,” he added.

He ruled out the possibility of compensation for the demolished buildings.

According to him, compensation is given to any property that has approval and is being cut off by the development process.

He added that in the case of the demolished property, there was no approval.

He also hinted at the possibility of prosecuting defaulting developers and making them pay the penalties, including the cost of demolition.

(NAN)