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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Delta State Government on Tuesday said it will no longer abuse of building permits, warning that tough times await defaulters.
This followed what the government said was part of it’s re-organised urban and town planning development.
Addressing newsmen in Asaba, the state Commissioner for Urban Renewal, Arthur Akpowowo disclosed that there now be three stages of approval of building permits including the pre-approval, approval and post-approval.
“What I mean by developmental control, is if you have your private land and you need to build on it, you have to come to us through our offices across the state.
“There are Area Planning Offices across the state where you can go and get your building plans approved. If you are lucky to get government land, you have to still go to the urban renewal planning board to get your plans approved,” he said.
He said government would now ensure that developers comply with building codes, adding that this will manifest in drastic reduction of cases of building collapse.
Akpowowo said the stringent steps now adopted in approving building permits was to address incidents of deceit by some developers.
“People come with plans for a storey building, and you give them approval for a storey building, but they end up going to build three or more storey buildings, because there is no proper monitoring and follow-up.
“These are going to be highly reduced if not eliminated because we will give permit and follow-up to ensure that what the person is doing is in line with our permit, by checking the building environment, the architects, the surveyor and everyone on board,” he added.
On the on-going construction of inter-change at Koka junction along the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha highway Akpowowo said beyond reducing loss of man hour, the project would help to beautify Asaba and make it a befitting state capital.
“The man hour loss in that axis sometimes is an economic waste. Movement from point A to point B is an economic gain and so with the ongoing flyover, there will be ease of movement.
“The concept is to allow for free flow of traffic and it’s going to reduce man hour loss, it going to serve as aesthetic.
“My ministry is going to do the beautification aspect of that project when the civil work is completed. So you are going to see a beautiful major exit and entrance point of the state capital,” he stated.
