For allegedly failing structural integrity test, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Monday demolished a mega store sitting on a one-storey building in Dawaki relocation scheme of Abuja, the nation’s capital city.
Our correspondent reports that FCTA officials who were accompanied by a combined team of security operatives who stormed the area with their bulldozer and pulled down the structure attached to the site of the collapsed uncompleted building, after a heavy downpour.
It was observed that the owner of the store was allowed to evacuate the wares before the building was reduced to rumbles within minutes, without any casualties incurred in the process.
Speaking with newsmen, Murkta Galadima, director, Development Control Department of the FCTA stated that the exercise carried out site sitting on plot 59 Dawaki Relocation Scheme, was a follow up on the unfortunate building collapse incident, where life was lost in the process.
He said: “We (Development Control) received a distress calls from residents of the area that this developer had gone back to site, and it’s even selling items within the building, which if we don’t do anything very promptly, another disaster will occur.”
“And that will be really unfortunate on our part, that is why we have to be very proactive, and avert any of such unfortunate incident that may occur.”
On whether the developer and operators of the store were duly notified, the director said: “Yes, they were fully notified of the exercise, because before the enforcement of today, we followed due process by conducting integrity test on the building, and the result of the test indicated that the structure failed the test.”
“As a result of that, in order to forestall any future reoccurrence, we had to move in and remove the standing structure,” he said.
