FG plans New FESTAC Town, targets N25.7b revenue

A New FESTAC Town in Lagos State with about 7,000 plots is underway.
The Minister of Land and Housing, Ama Pepple, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said it will be developed under a Public Private Partnership, as phase 2 of the FESTAC Town in Lagos.
Pepple said the project has received the blessing of the Federal Executive Council, adding that it will involve land reclamation.
The 7,000 plots will be carved out of the 1,126 hectares remaining from the land acquired for the famous FESTAC ’77.
According to her, the project will be handled by the New FESTAC Property Development Company.
She also hoped that it will generate N25.7 billion into the Federal Government’s purse.
Pepple said: “Today, Council approved that we can concession the area we call FESTAC Phase 2 to a company called New FESTAC Property Development Company.
“They will be working with four other companies – PW Nigeria Limited, SCC Nigeria Limited, Enacco Nigeria Limited and Funtaj.
“The area involved is 1,126 hectares and we estimate that when it is completely reclaimed and sand filled, because it is a swampy area, that we will be able to create at least 7,000 plots and then the new area FESTAC Phase 2 will be like a new city with houses, shopping malls, schools, police station, health centres, etc.
“We also expect that a lot of money will accrue.
“It has been presented before Council before, but it was turned down because at that time the Council believed that the amount that they say will accrue to government that was put at N10.6 billion was too small considering the size of the plot and the fact that it is Lagos.
“This was in 2006.
“We worked on it again and we looked at what it will cost the company to reclaim the land and the figure that we came up with was N25.7 billion.
“It is going to be concessioned over a 30-year period, but they are going to have a three-year moratorium to enable hem to start the project, stabilize the project.
“And we also expect that in addition to the N25.7 billion that will accrue over the 30-year period, that we will also get in a year about N150 million in ground rent, but this is not a firm figure.
“This is just an estimate because it can go up and it can go down depending on the economic environment that we find ourselves.
“It is purely private sector funded because now we are using PPP to try and provide infrastructure development in the country.”