Seven countries have begun building their permanent embassies at the Diplomatic Drive, a street allocated to them in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
They are Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Turkey, Benin Republic, Serbia and Cote d’Ivoire.
The Iraqi Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ali? Al-Amery, said the new embassy would be completed by April next year, adding that it would accommodate the consular office as well.
Al-Amery said a local construction company, Sahar Continental, was handling the project which, according to him, would cost about three million dollars.
The Ambassador of Serbia, Mr Rifat Rondic, gave early 2014 as the expected date of completion of the project which is being handled by Energo company, a Serbian firm.
He did not state the cost of the project.
A NAN investigation revealed that most of the embassy projects are being by indigenous construction companies.
Some embassies – Ghana, China, the U.S., Niger, Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Cuba and Liberia – are already operating from the Diplomatic Drive.
Others are Palestine, North Korea, Brazil, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.
South Africa, Pakistan, Italy and the Netherlands embassies operate from Constitution Avenue,? an extension of the Diplomatic Drive.
NAN also reports that apart from the embassies, the area also houses a government agency, a church and an automobile dealership and this has led to criticisms by security experts.
“If government has designated the area for the embassies, no other agency should be situated there; it is called diplomatic Drive; I believe the aim is to have a number of the diplomatic offices in one location.
“Not only for easy access, but also for security reasons,’’ Mr Emmanuel Ekpu, a security expert, said.
The UN House, attacked by the Boko Haram sect in August 2011, is also located on the Diplomatic Drive.
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