From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia state government has given a 90 day grace for property owners in Aba and its environs to revalidate their landed properties with the government.
Disclosing this in Aba, General Manager, Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA), Uche Ukeje said the move was meant to provide data for planning purposes to enable the government serve the people better, especially in the provision of social amenities and services.
He also explained that the major idea behind the registration is data collection and not revenue generation.
Ukeje stated that the Governor Alex Otti administration was committed to working out and implementing a master plan for the city of Aba.
He also disclosed that the move would assist property owners in the city to have legal documents which will authenticate their properties.
“As part of the process of doing a master plan, we need to take stock of what we have. Ordinarily,when you build your house without approval, there are penalties and there are things you must do when you are going to regularize.
“But Governor Otti in his magnanimity, has done Christmas to the residents of Aba. He is offering a 90 day moratorium to anyone who has a building, residential or commercial that you have done without approval. Come in and get the building approved. The basic idea is the collection of data, not IGR. It is not about money making. We need to make this clear.
“In the modern world, it is difficult to plan without data. If you want to site a hospital or school or any other facility, the first thing you will do is to ,what is your market? Who are you serving?
“As it is today, we don’t have data, most of the things happened outside of the system. We don’t have information on how many people we are serving. You can’t say this part of the city requires more hospital or school than the other because the information is not available.
“So,what we are doing is to provide the government with the information it needs to serve the people better.
“And what is happening now is that there is a 90 day moratorium from the Governor to the residents of Aba. Whether you live here or not, as long as you have a property, walk into any of the five town planning authorities to get your documents approved.”
He disclosed that one of the benefits of the exercise was that if Government was demolishing any house for development purposes, the owner will be duly compensated by government
