Park operators have been issued one final warning by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) through its Abuja Metropolitan Management Agency (AMMC) to settle their ground debt or face revocation.
They lamented the amount of debt owed to the FCT administration by pack operators at the time, claiming that some haven’t made payments since the land was assigned to them in 2007.
Furthermore, operators who refuse to benefit from the administration’s kind offer and keep missing payments risk having their Parks taken, their licenses canceled, and their facilities transferred to operators who comply with the law.
The AMMC Coordinator, Tlp. Usmar Shuaibu, spoke on behalf of the administration during a press conference on the verification and updating of Park Data on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him: “The recovery of outstanding revenues will be carried out with a human face as government in its magnanimity has granted indebted operators discounts and the option of paying in installments in order to cushion the financially devastating effect of block payment on the activities of operators.
“Operators may obtain details of this discount arrangement as well as information on installment remittances from the Parks and Recreation Department of the FCTA
“Park Update Forms should also be collected, filled by Operators and duly returned to the department in order to facilitate the update and verification of all park records. We need to make it clear that operators who refuse to take advantage of the Administration’s humane gesture and continue to default on their payments may have their Parks withdrawn, licenses revoked and their facilities transferred to compliant operators.
“We wish to state that the 2019 FCT Park Policy has categorized Parks into Neighbourhood, District, City and Regional Parks all with their various designations. The Policy is now fully operational.
“In line with all Park operators, Shaibu warned that the Park Policy regulations for their activities stipulates that their daily operation must end at 7.00pm. As the rights of the neighbors for protection against excessive noise must be sacrosanct”, he said.
In her contributions, the Director FCT Parks and Recreation, Hajiya Riskatu Abdulazeez said: “The 2019 FCT park policy is now fully operational, we are calling on the operators to pay their outstanding bills, before the policy came into existence their were suspension of the revenue collection but now is on.
“We have discussed with the operators, we asked them to come up and pay but they have not started. So, those who are yet to come and pay their outstanding, to pay in bulk wont be easy for them but let them pay in installments, because of COVID-19 we have waived year 2020 even in 2021, only 50% is expected” she said.
