The Minister of State for Works and Housing, Umar El-Yakub, has confirmed the government’s commitment to developing smart cities with world-class design, new construction technologies and innovations.
This was the unveiling of plans to build the Abuja Diaspora Smart City, a model city that would provide 17,000 homes.
The minister disclosed that he was speaking to reporters after visiting the proposed site on Tuesday.
He disclosed that the project to be built on 700 hectares of land in Kabusu district of the Federal Capital Territory will be supervised by the Federal Housing Authority.
According to him, the model city will also be an opportunity for Nigerians living abroad to own, invest and build a property.
He said: “What we have here is called the Abuja model / diaspora smart city. I can assure you that this project will start very soon because the planning has been in the works for many years.
“This massive development will be unique with more than 700 hectares of land. It will be one of the iconic developments.
“Our plan and model is to attract Nigerians living abroad and invest in this city in the diaspora. There will also be an opportunity to own property in Nigeria. The entire community will be a city of its own. Planning, design, certification and approval are underway.”
Umar added that cooperation with private developers will be used to develop the housing project.
“It will be built based on public-private collaboration. The agency does not get it from the federation account. This city model will be built through Public Private Partnership, but we will provide the correct infrastructure equipment.
“It will be a smart city with all that that entails, there will be green buildings and other innovative buildings,” he said.
