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Federal Ministry of Water Resources is now to give clearance for the construction of dams in all parts of the country. Minister of Water Resources Mukhtari Shagari stated this in an interview with the newsmen in Abuja. Shagari said the directive had become necessary to ensure adherence to the existing rules and guidelines on dam construction. “It will also check the abuse of maintenance standards by states and private organisations as well as prevent floods and collapse of dams in the country," he said. The minister said experts in the ministry had attributed the prevailing cases of floods in the country to negligence and bad design by the state or private firms that handled dam construction. He cited the Birnin Ruwa dam in Zamfara State which, he noted, was among the oldest state-owned dams that suffered neglect by the government, resulting in its collapse.
Prague- The construction of a new building of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was launched today at Prague 10-Hagibor with representatives of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, Foreign Minister Alexander Vondra and other Czech politicians attending. .
Hurricane Katrina sped along plans for a spate of new high-rise residential towers, but more than a quarter of the proposed housing units have already been killed or put on hold. Out-of-town investors "are circling like eagles" with capital ready to invest in downtown projects, said Kurt Weigle, executive director of the Downtown Development District. And inquiries from outside developers have increased five-fold, possibly because of special tax incentives being made available to building projects in hurricane-impacted areas. But not all of the residential projects will be built, experts say. The pricetags on most of the announced projects have risen 30 percent due to escalating prices on labor and building materials, developers say. That big of an increase is giving pause to both the developers behind the condo towers and the potential condo buyers who, in some cases, are backing out of sales contracts when presented with the higher prices.
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