Sen. Bala Mohammed, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has urged investors in the capital market to key into the ongoing N69 billion FCT Millennium Tower and Cultural Centre.
Mohammed spoke on Saturday during a tour of the tower with Ms Arunme Oteh, Director-General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to him, the involvement of the capital market will attract funds for the execution of the project.
“Mr President has lent support to us to host the 2014 economic summit in the FCT, to target the attention of the capital market for the development of FCT projects.’’
Oteh lauded the FCT Minister over the project and assured him that the capital market would key into it.
“This is the kind of project that the capital market has the interest to invest in because it will be a revenue-generating project.
She also commended the Minister over the pace with which he was executing a project that he inherited.
Earlier, the FCT Director of Public Building, Mr Bernard Lot, had said that the tower would be completed by December, 2014.
He said: “The initial cost of the project was N53 billion but it had to be increased by N16 billion to accommodate costs incurred as a result of change of site and other additional requests made by end users.
“Some of the requests include shops, a museum, a five-star hotel, comprising 55 standard rooms and nine suites, among others.’’
He said that N38 billion had been spent on the project, leaving a balance of N31 billion.
Lot explained that there would be a National Square in the tower, big enough to accommodate a two-storey underground parking area with capacity to hold up to 1,200 cars.
He added that the square would also contain a cultural centre, national library, city hall and a national mall.
“The project has gone very far; some of the essential components needed will be ready this year while the rest, including the parking space, are billed for completion by October, 2014.’’
The director added that the cultural centre, museum, five-star hotel, auditorium, swimming pool and botanical garden components of the project would also be completed by October next year.
According to him, a 120-capacity revolving restaurant on the top floor of the tower will be completed by June 2014.
“The total height of the tower is 110 metres and it is being built with due consideration for
security, especially in view of its strategic location,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tower is located in the middle of other national monuments, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s headquarters, National Christian Centre and the Central Mosque in the Central Business District of Abuja. (NAN)
