FG plans triple ground rent charge on unoccupied property

The Federal Government says it will start charging owners of completed unoccupied houses triple ground rents instead of the single rate normally charged from three months after completion.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa said this in an interview with journalists during the continuation of site visits of housing projects constructed by the government and its agencies on Friday in Abuja.

The projects are the Suleja (Dikko) Prototype, Public Private Partnerships Cooperative, Gwagwalada National Housing Programme and Guzape Federal Housing Authority (FHA) also under PPP arrangement.

Dangiwa affirmed that the issue of completed unoccupied properties was prevalent in the FCT and some states of the federation while many citizens were in dare need of accommodation.

“What is important now is that we want to take stock of all those houses then we will interface with the owners and find out what they want.

“If they want to keep the houses unoccupied, the government will start charging them triple ground rent instead of a single ground rent that we charge,” he said.

On the supervision of projects across the country, the minister said all state controllers would be empowered and given the proper tools and equipment to carry out their functions effectively.

“The second thing is the issue of supervision, we have state controllers in every state of the federation we want to empower them by giving them the tools they need in supervising any project within their vicinity,” Dangiwa said.

The minister expressed satisfaction with what he has seen adding that each of the locations had their own peculiarities and issues.

Commenting on the issue of BUA cement that announced a reduction in the price of its product but survey showed that the cost had not been brought down.

The minister lauded BUA Company for taking the initiative to reduce the burden on citizens.

“They have reduced the prices of their cement but most of the people who sell at higher prices they are claiming that they bought it at higher prices,” he further said.