THE CAUSE OF ABANDONED PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ABUJA ( CASE STUDY FCDA)

Thesis Overview

1.0       INTRODUCTIONOnly little portion of government projects are executed by direct labour, while most of the development projects are awarded to contractions.Public structures have been known to be abandoned in the cause of construction or left to dilapidate after being practically completed.      Incidents of abandoned projects are rampant all over the country e.g. from Enugu to ILorin, port Harcourt to sokoto and Lagos to Maidugwi. Projects of high capital cost. Such as residential buildings, office buildings and even road constructions.1.1       HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY VIZ – AVIZ FEDERAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ABUJA (FCDA)            The federal capital territory Abuja was created in 1976 by Decree No6 of that year which was established the federal capital development agency responsible for the design, construction and administration of the territory.            The decree also vested ownership and control for all land in the territory in the federal government of Nigeria. The territory which is located at the centre of the country covers an areas of 8000sqkm.            It is therefore more than twice the land area of Lagos state (93535sq.km) about two-thirds the size of Imo state (13032sq. km).            The federal capital territory itself is designed to cover an area of 256sq. Km or 3% of the total land area of the territory and at full development the city is expected to have a total population of 3.2 million.            In the FCT the duration of sunshine range from 6-8 hours per day in the south and 8-10 hours per day in the North from January to April / may. There is however a steep drop to a mean of about 4 hours per day in the month of July / August largely due to increase in cloud cover it starts again in the month of September.            Abuja, a virgin land with virtually no amenities of any sort before 1976 even where the pioneer civil servants would stay became a test case. Therefore Civil Servants had to stay in scattered level hotels in Suleja for residential accommodation and a borrowed Niger State Housing Estate had to be used as the Head Quarters of the FCDA.            The only road from Suleja to the Linther land of the territory was a colonial narrow tarred road.            FCDA is a parastatals under the Ministry for the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) responsible for the physical development f the territory.            Under FCDA is the Development of Public Building and Engineering. The development of Public Building is in charges of designing and supervising f buildings while the Engineering Development, takes charge of road, dams and Electrical Services and bridges.            Most projects are executed through contractors while little is done by direct labour.1.2              STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS            It has been observed that inspite f the effort put by government to brings to actualization the conception of its projects, public projects are still massively abandoned at different stages of construction.            What are the factors responsible for the abandonment of public projects?            This study is therefore geared towards examining the factors that cause abandonment of public sector development especially FCDA projects.1.3              AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY            The aims of this project are to examine the causes and effect f abandoned Public Development Projects in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.            The above aim was drafted with the following objectives in mind.(i)                 To establish and identify the cause of Abandoned public developmeent project in the Federal Capitals Territory Abuja.(ii)               To investigate the effect of the abandoned public development projects on the livs of the citizens.(iii)             To investigate its effects also on the environment.(iv)             To suggest possible solution to causes of abandonment of public development projects in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS(i)                 What are the possible causes of abandonment of Federal Capital Development Authority Project?(ii)               What are the possible effect of abandonment of such projects?(iii)             How can abandonment of public development projects be minimized in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja(iv)             What are the possible solutions to abandonment of public development projects in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY(i)                 It will assist public sector development to avoid abandonment projects.(ii)               It will assist researches on similar topics.(iii)             It will educate the public on abandonment of projects and brief historical background of the FCT.1.6       OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY            The aim of the project is to examine the causes and effect of abandoned public development project in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Some of the causes which include inadequate funding or Bankcrupcy, lack of payment, high interest rate, inflation, improper planning, political reasons, delay in payment, corruption, bureacracy and back of special materials having its effect on lowering of living standard of the populace and as well making the environment look ugly among other effects. The chapter two made a reviews of related and relevant literature.            In the chapter three which is the methodology, both primary and secondary sources of data where used the percentage method. In chapter four the data acquired were presented on tables were analysed accordingly.