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Building collapse: Abia to set up standard material testing laboratory

From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

The Abia State Government is set to establish a Standard Material Testing Laboratory in Umuahia, the state capital, to guard against building collapse in the state.

The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu, who made the disclosure in Umuahia, said the decision to build the laboratory was informed by the instances of building collapse in the country.

“We know the attendant human and material resources lost when a building collapses, so this government is poised to ensure that such instances do not occur in our state.”

Assuring that the facility would serve as a platform for research, the commissioner added: “We want buildings to serve the purpose for which they were built; UCDA has been interfacing with landlords to see that this does not continue,” he stated.

Kanu expressed the government’s resolve to stop all forms of touting, popularly known as “Agbero”, adding that a task force had been set up to tackle the menace.

General Manager, Umuahia Capital Development Authority (UCDA,) Kingsley Agomoh, said the laboratory was one of the government’s proactive measures towards guiding against the use of low-grade building materials, to prevent cases of building collapse.

“The initiative would assist the government in ensuring that every building, road and bridges constructed in the state meets the required standards. o, with this, it is going to be difficult to start any construction work and get approval at each stage of the building without getting the materials tested through this laboratory.

We are going to build the first in Umuahia, then other parts of the state like Aba and Ohafia will have their own as time goes on.”

Agomoh further said the government was working assiduously to ensure that building permit would be issued within 30 days of submission of the documents.

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