General News

THE Managing Director, Railway Properties Company Ltd., Mr Timothy Zalanga, says he is adopting engagement as a strategy to tackle cases of encroachment on railway property across the country.

Zalanga said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday..

According to him, railway authorities have engaged with the State Planning Ministry in Oyo State to tackle all the land encroachment challenges being faced in the state.

“We are trying to solve the encroachment challenges in Oyo, Kaduna, Rivers and many other states where we have railway property.

“We are adopting engagement strategy particularly with the state governments to see that we understand the common interest for all so that we can have a win-win solution.

“The land within the railway stations are just like advert; the more eyes you have, the more we actually sell.

“As soon as we get more train services on all the stations, people will come, then there will be more demand for people to scout for the shops,” Zalanga said.

He said that before any property could be leased out, there were  development processes for land value.

Zalanga said the first stage of development process for land value was driving of infrastructure (rail line).

The official said that this attracted the development, noting that people clustered around such area and raised the land value.

He said that the Lagos/Ibadan Standard gauge had been developing, and many people were moving toward Moniya, with the railway area now being in high demand.

Zalanga said that when a rail line moved to Rigazal area in Kaduna, the area, which was known to be a notorious one, became developed.

He said that Railway Properties Company Ltd., had started a pilot task force to monitor and ensure that all occupants on railway property were properly allocated.

Zalanga urged illegal occupants on railway property to legalise their documents to avoid demolition. (NAN)

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