By Therese Nanlong

The approval given by the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong for new layouts to be developed in the State has been implemented as the State Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning has commenced the sales of land in the allocated areas.

The State Commissioner for Lands, Surprise and Town Planning , Yakubu Dati undertook a tour of the layouts which include 24 plots of land in Dong (Jos North), Tewo-Tebo (Bassa), Kwang and Waduruk, Shen (Jos South).

Dati, noted the gesture is not only making landed property available to citizens without difficulty but ensures an organised city as well as accrue revenue to the State government and called on investors and cooperatives to indicate interest and key into the opportunity.

It would be recalled that between December, 2019 and February, 2020, the Ministry has issued over 300 Certificates of Occupancy, C of O to land owners with a promise to keep the exercise ongoing

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His words, “The intension of government is to create modern/smart cities and this comes with planning. That is why we started the new layouts, and His Excellency, Governor Simon Lalong, has approved seven new layouts. Five of those layouts are for residential while two are for industrial. The whole idea is to have a planned city such that as the city grows it doesn’t  become an urban slum. That is why the planning is necessary.

“We intended to initially fund the layouts, but due to cash constraints and also due to the fact that we need to raise our funding we went into partnership with some serious investors. The whole idea is to make land available to the people with certificate of occupancy. If anyone buys a land, that person is assured of certificate of occupancy.

“Besides, the layouts are areas with assess roads, water, electricity, essential services, recreation places and other needs of modern estates. We are ensuring all that and we are happy that following the work of the committee, we are happy to flag off sales of lands in the layouts. We have some layouts in Rayfield, Miango Road, Zaria Road, among other places. We are also calling on investors to key into this new layout project which is meant to change the face of our city and our children will inherit a standard city.”

The sales ranges in prizes depending on the locations, and the Commissioner assured that there is also the possibility of staggering the payment for those meaning to pay in installment.

Vanguard