17 Oct Centenary City & Julius Berger Kick Off N750bn Primary Infrastructure Development Phase
In a landmark move to enhance Abuja’s infrastructure development, Centenary City management says it has officially engaged Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, and work has officially commenced on the N750 billion primary infrastructure phase of the Centenary City project. At a press conference in Abuja, the managing director of Centenary City, Dr. Ike Odenigwe said after a pause in the development and construction of Abuja Centenary City, the project is now back on track with a promise to redefine Sub-Saharan Africa’s skyline and enhance Nigeria’s global standing in urban development.
Our news correspondent has the details as we seek to remind people what the Centenary City is all about, being the foremost Abuja urban renewal project. “Every city in the world is building a new city from Cairo to anywhere in the world and we also emphasize that Centenary City is just to support Abuja city in its upgrade”.
According to the managing director of Centenary City Dr. Ike Odenigwe, the Centenary City is conceptualized as the foremost Abuja urban renewable project. “The idea of engaging reputable companies is to guarantee the development of the city according to the vision reflected in the original master plan”. Dr. Odenigwe said the project is “designed to work in harmony with nature with districts and communities designed to fit in among the natural landscape offering both an impressive downtown skyline and peaceful suburban living”.
To deliver the infrastructure of centenary city is about N2.4 trillion naira which is about $1.6 billion dollars. When questioning the price tag of this infrastructure development, Odenigwe explained that it is to provide a quality infrastructure to support this sustainable city. “Centenary City is a smart city. It’s a sustainable city. From the greenery of the model to the to the buildings, every tall building here has a solar panel on it. So, it generates about 30% of its own electricity. So even if there’s no light, every building here has to be sustained on its own. There’re no generators in Centenary City. Every house has an inverter. So, there’s no noise. We’re planning that it has 24/7 power. So, the design is what makes the cost expensive. But thanks to our support of our ministers of FCT housing, we are beginning to get the investors that are supporting us to take off”.
The city is conceptualized as a truly multifunctional development that offers a complete cosmopolitan lifestyle to its residents as well as serves as a tourism hub for the wider community. The Centenary City managing director speaks on some of the key components of the project. “So, the Centenary City project presents a great opportunity to create value and raise Abuja’s profile and encourage international investment in Abuja. The project is designed to work in harmony with nature. If you look at Centenary City, the reason I said to sit here is you can get a view of the model. If you look at the model it’s over 40% green area. We don’t call it green area in Centenary because most of our green areas we’ve designed it as a safari park with about 20 herbivores, agreed with the Nigerian park service to put animals there so you can have a park. There are only three urban parks in the world, in Kenya, in South Africa, and if we’re lucky we’ll be the third one in Centenary City. We’re going to increase the profile of Abuja”.
“Some of the key components of the Centenary City includes five-star hotels, luxury serviced apartments and residences. We have an international commerce center. We also have the Centenary International Convention Center. As you well know, uh South Africa gets 80% of the convention stuff in Africa. There’s no reason why we can’t get it because we don’t have a good convention center. That’s why we also have a health care facility. We have a 350-bed super specialty hospital and health care centers to make sure that we support the idea that we don’t encourage medical tourism anymore”.
“So, after the pause of this project for over 10 years and that’s why we really invited you to say we’ve started off again and we intend to redefine the skyline of Africa”. Managers of the project said the Centenary City presents a great opportunity to create value and raise Abuja’s profile to encourage international investment in Nigeria.