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Nasarawa: Implementing NAGIS General Land Use And Detailed District Plans
After almost two years geographical mapping, at the cost of over N300 million, Nasarawa State has created a rational pattern for physical development as contained in its General Land Use and Detailed District Plans.
This is aimed at harnessing land potentials, natural and man-made endowments in the three selected town areas of Keffi, Lafia and Karu for sustained development with Lafia, the state capital having a total land area of 1600 square-kilometre designated for development while Karu and Keffi have 1268 and 400 square kilometres respectively.
With details of general land use and detailed district plans ready for implementation, Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura is poised to streamline physical development programmes and enhance development potentials for the towns as well as boost the economic base of the state.
The commissioner of Lands and Town Planning, Mr. Sonny Agassi, said the goal of the plan is to present opportunities for sustainability of development taking into cognisance the natural resource endowment, economic base, population growth, opportunities and threats.
Agassi noted that the design contained in the detailed district plan is tailored to be distinctive, sustainable and guarantee strong and safe neighbourhoods. When implemented in the various designated areas, it would produce cities that reflect its historical and current status of modern hierarchy in the state.
He explained that Governor Almakura is bringing his wealth of experience in the real estate to bear as the proposed cities would bear qualities of modern best practices where land use, natural environment and the built environment are blended together to produce greener and healthier habitation.
This is in view of the fact that living habits lead to problems such as the over use of natural resources, destruction of the ecosystem, pollution, growing social inequality and large scale climate change.
Apart from taking due cognisance of aesthetics where the designs of buildings and spaces contribute to create beautiful scenery, the NAGIS detailed district plans guarantee the availability of efficient, affordable and available transport choices.
A breakdown of the general land use and detailed district plan of Karu shows that 12 districts have been delineated for development. Nine of the districts have been earmarked for residential development while one each is allocated for public and institutional development, commercial and industrial development and regional resort centre.
In Keffi, a total of eight districts have been delineated for development. Five of those have been designated for residential development, while one each is earmarked for public institutions and educational village with one district being reserved for Agricultural development.
In Lafia, the state capital, 17 districts have been set aside with most of it being designated for residential development. One reserved for passenger airport and another for the university.
The existing core settlements in all the three designated areas is to undergo renewal and upgrade, which has already commenced. The other selected areas for immediate development are based on parameters which include current land values, proximity to the existing business hub, flexibility in linking with existing development and topographical opportunities and constraints.
Mr Peter Ritchie, GIS consultant, explained that the NAGIS plan intends to integrate the disciplines of land use and transport planning to explore a wide range of aspects of the already built and social environments.
He said a key role of this project is in advancement of Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura’s urban renewal template and regeneration of older parts of the selected cities by adopting urban planning methods.
Mr Agassi adds that the detailed district plans and general land use blueprint aims to exploit the natural and man-made potentials of Karu, Keffi and Lafia with a view to transforming them to attractive, competitive and commercial nerve centres of the state.
He said the plan has identified local resources and recommended local economic development projects that will promote the progress of other settlements in the state.
He stressed that growth of unplanned settlements has increased considerably with significant shortfalls in infrastructural provisions which spurred Governor Almakura to take necessary steps to correct this anomaly.
The land use and detailed district plans lay out proposals highlighting the physical, social and economic needs and aspirations of the state though corresponding challenges are anticipated especially as it affects changing the mindset of the public towards seeing the bigger picture and embracing the overall benefit of the project.
Another integral part of this detailed master plan for the development of land potential in the state is the Karu-Keffi commercial precinct which is designed to rely on the Abuja-Keffi road to boost economic activities along the Abuja corridor which offers enormous trade and investment opportunities.
By this, the road is to be expanded to accommodate its proposed service as linear downtown multi-purpose area running through the Karu-Keffi planning area along the Abuja-Keffi expressway. This would span between 50-100 meters from the highway centreline based on the peculiar nature of development across the affected area. The precinct would be characterised with high-rise buildings, mostly commercial, as well as other uses on both sides of the road.
From the survey, as obtained by LEADERSHIP Friday, affected structures within the corridor using the aerial photography showed that a total of 4,722 structures would be affected with 1,336 within the 50m buffer, while 356 would be partially affected.
Within the 100m buffer, a total of 2,678 structures would be affected while 352 would be partially touched.
To arrest the perennial problems associated with traffic congestion, terminals would be located at specific spots to serve as drop/pick up points for passengers who would use the rail system to run beside the highway of the precincts. It is also expected to serve as switch point to the BRT model split.
Due to the vast width of the road which would comprise the expressway, a switch point and railway terminals, overhead bridges would be constructed at strategic points to enhance safety of commuters and reduce traffic congestion on the roads.
The formulation of the general land use and detailed plan blueprint became imperative as a result of the haphazard and indiscriminate physical development taking place in urban areas in major city centres in the state, NAGIS second phase will effectively control measures to curb the trend. The ugly development pattern was most visible in the Mararaba-Karu-Keffi axis as a consequence of the proximity of the area to the Federal Capital Territory.
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The four years contract entered into by the
Nasarawa State government under the Nasarawa
Development Platform (NDP) terminated on the
19th April, 2016. DONATUS NADI, takes a look at
how the initiative has revolutionised general land
administration and boosted the revenue generation
capacity of the state.
In a state wide broadcast on 1st October, 2012,
Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura stated that the development
of the abundant land resource of the state was a singular
priority of his government.
For this reason, he vigorously pursued a policy on land
administration through the completion of the Nasarawa
Geographic Information Service (NAGIS) project.
Four years on, after the implementation of the first
phase of this project, the state has come to the
realisation of its development control drive, including
the urban renewal programme.
The development platform has three components which
include: Digital Area Mapping (DAM), Nasarawa Geographic
Information Service (GIS), and district planning.
The first component, the Digital Aerial Mapping, which
was undertaken by Aeroprecisa Limited, has completed the
aerial digital mapping of the state, the first of its kind
in the country. They have also been processed and
computerised in a database for easy administration of land
resources in the state.
The provision of geographic information service, which
was the second component, was undertaken by GIS Transport,
which computerised and digitally captured all land
documents processed and issued by the state ministry of
Lands and Urban Planning.
This component has also seen to the introduction of a new
Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), which is now easily
obtained through a simplified process within the shortest
possible time.Another component is the implementation of
Lafia headquarters and Karu service centre. In this
direction, the general land use and detailed district
plans have been produced for implementation at the cost
of over N300 million. With revenue generation as one of
its centrepiece, the Nasarawa Geographic Information
Service (NAGIS) has revolutionised the Internal Revenue
Generation base of the state, generating four billion
naira in four years.
Records of revenue returns on land administration in the
state shows that as at 2007 when the previous
administration of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma assumed office,
what accrued to the state from land administration stood
at N29, 283, 254.71. After efforts to develop the land
administration mechanism met little success, as at 2011
when he was leaving office after four years, the sum of
N34,810, 681.02 was realised, although the highpoint in
this effort was recorded in 2010 when it got
N53,739, 195.09. When Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura
assumed office in 2011, he set about repositioning land
administration to tap into its rich potentials and within
one year the state realised over 1000 percent of its
previous earnings on land.
As at 2012 the total sum of N317, 426, 306.29 was paid
into the coffers of government as proceeds from land
transactions.
This investment which the state made at the cost of N2.7
billion yielded N448, 020, 842.68 in 2013 representing
an increase of over N130 million.
The land sector scaled the halfbillion mark in revenue
generation on land administration in 2014 when it realised
the sum of N608, 689, 414.32.
The state commissioner of Lands and Town Planning,
Mr Sonny Agassi, explained that the year 2015 was peculiar
not only
to Nasarawa State but all across the nation as the economy
suffered the backlash of economic recession occasioned by
the crash in oil price at the global market.
He said, like any other commercial interest, land
administration through procurement of titles and servicing
of rents suffered setbacks and as a result the land sector
recorded N534,238, 854.37, representing a marginal drop
of N74 million. Explaining further, Mr Agassi noted that
although there was a shortfall in the collected revenue,
the revenue generated for the year 2015 stood at N1, 856,
723, 664.00. He said the shortfall experienced in
collected revenue was as a result of the inability of
those who were ready to claim them as a result of the
economic crunch.
The commissioner of Lands and Town Planning, who doubles
as the project manager of NAGIS, explained that it a
temporary setback, the public has continued to appreciate
the need to get titles on their lands. To this end the
sum of N346,160, 800.00 was realised in the first quarter
2016 although only N79 million has been collected.
Records obtained by LEADERSHIP Friday show that between
19992007, Governor Abdullahi Adamu’s administration
produced and issued a total of 3, 621 Rights of Occupancy
(R of Os) within eight years. In Aliyu Doma’s four years,
between 2007 and 2011, a total of 717 R of Os were
produced and issued. Within Almakura’s five years in
office between 2011 to date, 3,701 were produced and 3,
075 were collected, leaving 626 uncollected.
Similarly, in Abdullahi Adamu’s eight year reign from
19992007, a total of 214 Certificates of Occupancy
(C of Os) were
printed, signed and issued, while his successor, Doma,
issued only 24 in four years. From 2011 to date, through
the rejuvenated NAGIS land reform policy, Governor
Almakura printed 1443 C of Os, signed 698,
and issued 552 with 146 uncollected.
Other reforms in land administration imply that
application for statutory titles on lands in Nasarawa
State must now be accompanied by proper survey plan in
the bid to fully implement government’s reforms in lands
management and administration in line with international
best practices.
The introduction of the new system is in strict
compliance with relevant laws, particularly CAP 425 Laws
of the Federation, as well as the regulation by Surveyors
Council of Nigeria (SURCON).
Presently, NAGIS has entered its second phase with clear
mandate to optimise its operations and committed
development of its Lafia headquarters and Karu service
centre. Special emphasis in this phase is placed on the
implementation of the general land use and detailed
district plans with the aim to create a rational pattern
for physical development. It is intended to harness the
natural land potentials of Karu, Keffi and Lafia.
The designated areas of development in the selected local
governments include 1600sq/km in Lafia, 1, 268sq/km
in Karu and 400sq/km in Keffi.
With the commencement of the second phase, Governor
Almakura stressed that: “It is at this point that we will
station development control to stop the growth of slums
in Nasarawa State. It is at this point that we will tailor
planned development to gradually make us a decent and
liveable city as our big neighbour, Abuja”.
He explained that with a land size of 8,000 square metres,
Abuja records receipts of about N1.5 billion through the
same initiative called AGIS. With NAGIS fully developed,
his projection of revenue receipts is between two billion
naira and five billion naira, monthly of rents from the
land size of 27,000 square metres – over three times the
size of Abuja.
Read More: http://leadership.ng/news/520446/nasarawa-gis-generates-n4bn-igr-enters-second-phase
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A 28-man team of professionals in Lands Management and Administration from the Kaduna State Government on Sunday visited the Nasarawa Geographic Information System to understudy the computerised lands system being executed by Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai, who pioneered the execution of the Geographic Information System while he served at the Federal Capital Territory, is interested in awarding a contract to execute the same project in Kaduna State, although the project has not been officially unveiled.
A team of management and personnel officers from the Kaduna GIS, however, visited NAGIS, being executed by the Nasarawa State Government, to understudy the project and replicate it.
The Nasarawa State Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Mr. Sonny Agassi, who received the Kaduna State delegation, hailed El-Rufai’s passion and commitment to lands reform, saying that the governor was severally sought for opinion when Al-Makura initiated NAGIS for execution.
He, however, affirmed that when the NAGIS Service Centre in Mararaba, the gateway to Abuja, was presented for commissioning in May, 2013, El-Rufai was sought to honour the ceremony because he had emerged as the “architect of modern GIS execution in Nigeria.”
He hailed the initiative by the Kaduna State governor as one to bring about health competition.
“We are going to be competitive. We gave AGIS the run for its money. And now that the Kaduna State governor is initiating GIS in that state. We can only hope KAGIS will raise the level of competition by giving us the run for our money and fame,” Agassi, a Canadian, who Al-Makura invited to supervise the project as Commissioner of Lands and Urban Development, said.
The commissioner was accompanied by the NAGIS implementation team, including Roland Klaus and Heiko Howey, a GIS consultant, Peter Ritchie, a senior consultant, as well as Mario Bajouk, an Information and Communications Technology consultant with GIS Transport one of the firms in the consortium led by Siraj Engineering Consultants.
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