Gridlock: FCTA Set To Demolish Structures On Karu-Jikwoyi Road

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said that plans have been concluded to demolish illegal structures along the popular Karu-Jikwoyi road in order to clear the traffic gridlock on the road.

The Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the Minister of FCT, Ikharo Attah, stated this at the weekend after inspecting the road with some FCT stakeholders.

Attah explained that the demolition of the structures, which would commence soon, would put an end to the congestion of vehicles on the ever-busy road without putting any pain on the traders or motorists that ply the route.

He revealed that the Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, after an interface with the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on the speedy work on the Abuja-Keffi expressway, said the road has reached an advanced stage of completion and the traffic that builds up on it started from Nyanya through Karu, Jikwoyi, Kpegyi, and Gidan-Mangoro down to Orozo.

Attah, who directed the City Sanitation team to ascertain the issues that bring about the endless gridlock on the axis, disclosed that the congestion of vehicles on the route was being ignited by illegal trading, expansion, and unconventional markets all over the road shoulders.

“The minister of FCT sent us down here to look at the situation and ascertain what are the issues, we have seen that there is heavy roadside trading, illegal attachments, expansion towards the road, and indiscriminate roadside markets as well as problems accruing from the Jikwoyi Phase II Junction.

“We have assessed the situation and notified the Minister that Jikwoyi Phase II junction should be closed, anybody that wants to turn will turn from Phase I by transformer, turning in phase II is building traffic that reaches to CBN junction,” he said.

On whether the defaulters will be given time to vacate, he explained that some of the structures had been marked for long, hence the demolition team would move in at any time.

One of the stakeholders, who spoke during the inspection, Deputy Director, Department of Engineering Services, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr Richard Dauda, said the area is one of the major satellite towns in the city that needed serious attention.

He said with the population in the area, there must be a way of controlling the traffic, adding that, “when the roads are blocked, people can’t pass through, then the aim of developing the roads is defeated, there is need for measures to control it.”

It would be recalled that the officials of FCTA and the Department of Development Control had in September 2021, marked most of the structures on the road for demolition.