Senator Bala Mohammed

By Senator Iroegbu  

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, has stated that the new Abuja National Square, a component of the Nigeria Cultural Centre and Millennium Tower project is expected to displace the Eagle Square as the preferred national event centre upon completion in a few years’ time.

Speaking with journalists during an inspection of the multi-billion naira project at the weekend, Mohammed said the National Square is a 40,000 square metre platform for hosting national and other symbolic events.

The project which is located between the National Mosque and the National Christian Centre within Abuja Central Area (ACA), forms the roof of a two-level basement car park built to accommodate 1,200 cars.

The minister said the Cultural Centre which comprises four major components, was conceived as a multifunctional edifice with facilities for cultural exposition, tourism, recreation, hospitality, social and commercial activities. He listed the four components of the project as the Cultural Centre; the National Square and Underground Car Park; the Millennium Tower with a revolving Restaurant and Belvedere and a Commercial Tunnel.

The minister said the project is arranged in three phases. The first phase, which is near completion, involves the completion of the National Square and the two-level basement car parking lots with a capacity for 1,200 cars.

He further listed some facilities for effective use of the completed aspects of the phase of the project as roads linkage and corresponding services including support power source, water and sewer connections from the main water and sewer distribution networks to the project.

Mohammed explained that the second phase of the project would involve the completion of the Millennium Tower with the revolving restaurant and viewing platform.

The third phase, according to him, involves the completion of the Commercial Arcade and components of the Cultural Centre such as the hotel, auditorium, museums, the conference rooms, the swimming pool, fitness centre and offices.

The contract for the design and construction of the project was awarded to Messrs Salini Nigeria Limited, an Italian construction giant which commenced work in 2007.
The iconic project, designed by the famous Italian Architect appointed by the contractor, Manfredi Nicolleti, is located on adjacent plots (36 and 37) bounded East-West by roads NS8 and NS9 and North-South by road B8 and B10 respectively, within the Cultural Spine of the Central Business District of Abuja.

“However, since the project was awarded as a turnkey project, the federal government appointed Messrs Sal-Consults, an indigenous consulting firm, as an all-in consultants with a mandate to review the detailed designs to be submitted by the contractor in order to ensure that they conform to Nigeria’s cultural, social and environmental peculiarities, and as well, supervise the project and ensure that government gets maximum values for funding the project,” the minister said.

The Cultural Centre component of this project, he said, “is a gigantic structure encased in a pyramidal shell of glass and steel towering about 50 metres in height. It houses among other functional spaces, the museums, a hotel, offices, recreational and sporting facilities, auditorium, conference rooms, fitness centre, exhibition hall, coffee shops among others.

“The Millennium Tower component which symbolises the unity and strength of the Nigerian state is a 170 metre structure in height, and stands on three concrete cylinders that carry a revolving Panoramic Restaurant and Belvedere (Viewing Platform) at 110 metres above the ground. It shall dominate the skyline of Abuja and the rays of its powerful laser spot lights are designed to be seen more than 50 kilometres from the city centre. This simply means that the Tower can be spotted at night from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport thus making it possible to locate the city centre from there and even beyond.

“When completed, it will have a giant steel flower veil, rising from the ground, and carrying an illuminated symbol of Nigeria’s Coat of Arms. The basement of the Millennium Tower also houses such facilities entrance foyer, shops, restaurant among others.”

The N69.3 billion National Square project is a 40,000 square metre platform currently at about 35 percent completion stage and requires about N31 billion to be completed.