By Nefishetu Yakubu
The newly- proposed Coral City by the Edo State Government would accommodate over 50,000 residents when completed, the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Housing, Isoken Omo, said on Wednesday in Benin.
Omo, flanked by the the state commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, made this known while briefing newsmen on the state of the proposed city.
Omo noted that the proposed new city was designed under the new Edo master plan, adding that when completed, it would reduce the pressure on the City Centre.
“We have done the design and we have 1,300 plots available for different land uses: residential, commercial, multi-purpose, religion, leisure, schools, markets and health centres.
“Everything you need for a city to thrive would be there and it is coming with full infrastructure like roads, drainages, power, telecommunication, and others.
“We intend to house 50,000 people when it is fully completed. We have broken the project into four phases so that within the tenure of the current administration, we will do the first phase.
“The expectation is that subsequent governments would continue the project.
“We have invited subscription with 467 plots to jump start the project,” Omo said.
Omo disclosed that a New Town Development Authority had been set up to oversee the comprehensive development of the project.
She called on Edo residents to begin to apply for plots in the new city, assuring that the land acquired would come with title documents.
According to her, after the first phase, there would also be an opportunity for subscribers to do staggered and installment payments on plots allocated.
Also speaking, Chris Nehikhare, the commissioner for communication and orientation, disclosed that about 1,494,000 passengers had benefited from the free intra city transport put in place by the state government to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy
“Since the state government flagged off its free bus rides on September 11, the feedbacks from the people had been most encouraging as commuters who had been making use of the free buses had been able to save their daily transportation fares.
“We have carried 1,494,000 passengers on the intra-city scheme while for the intercity we have carried 33,000 passengers.
“A lot of our people have been directly touched by this gesture. It was not a knee jerk programme by the state government but was properly planned,” he said.
(NAN)
