The Commissioner for Housing in Anambra State , Mr. Mike Okonkwo, has said that the Billionaire City which the State plans for the citizens will go a long way to bring the citizens home more regularly.
Okonkwo, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA), under whose supervision the project was earmarked said that the visioned Billionaire City which the Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano has in mind would not only increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) but would also create job opportunities for Ndi Anambra.
The Commissioner in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun said that the city would give Ndi Anambra the opportunity to have a place that the affluent sector of the state would be familiar with. He said that most of the billionaires, millionaires in Nigeria from Anambra State do have very great places of residence all over the various cities of Nigeria. “So if we have a place in Awka, the capital territory, it would accord Ndi Anambra who are used to that life style to have it close to home. That is the major thing it would accord them; to have a place they call their own in their home state.
“Development, the way we have modeled it in the Awka Capital Territory in general and the Millennium City in particular, it would be a well planned place where all the revenues that are due to the state would be easy to be collected. This is because to do your development, there would be infrastructure levy, there will be a land value rate that you should have to pay, utilities to pay for, because we would be giving the state- of- the art infrastructure. All these would, if placed, bring people into Anambra and the purchasing power would increase and IGR be increased,” he said.
Explaining further, he said, the Millennium City also known as the Billionaire City is an exclusive, high-end, district within the multi-nuclei city of the Awka Capital Territory. It is an exotic enclave of mixed use development. He noted that in planning the Millennium City, the aim is to evolve practical innovative solutions – so as to prepare for the future – for long-term sustainability.
“The layout of the Millennium City features three distinct development zones: the Three-Arms Capital Zone, the Millennium City Centre, and the (Low Density) Residential Neighbourhoods. Each of the Zones has its own pattern, scale and importance within the overall City and varying mixes of uses.
“A wide range of uses including seats of government sectors, offices, educational facilities, low density and single family mansions as well as parcels designated for resort and convention centre development are the proposed uses within the Millennium City.
Parks and other community amenities will be adequately provided. However, a significant portion of the site is dedicated to open space that will serve the entire region as well as the residents, workers and visitors of Millennium City itself,” he stated.