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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Experts from across the country have lauded the Abia State Government and the UN-Habitat for their bold steps in producing a four-volume draft document of the Aba master plan for appraisal.
The experts, who spoke during a one-day workshop for the appraisal of the master plan draft document in Aba, said although the document has some vital technical gaps to be filled, they gave kudos to the Alex Otti administration for attempting what has eluded the state over the years.
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP) and former President of the Institute, Nathaniel Atabije, commended the Abia State government for “taking the right step in the right direction” by coming up with the Aba master plan draft document.
Giving his appraisal of the document, Atabije said a lot of research had been done and a lot of data gathered, analysed, and converted into policies, but that the end product is the plan which experts noticed has some technical gaps that needed to be filled before it becomes a working document.
“The draft document they have produced is reasonable, but there are a lot of gaps that must have to be made up if it’s going to be implementable”.
He pointed out that one of the gaps in the document to be filled is the profiling of the city, which he said needs to be properly developed and the proposal of new areas that need to be guided in terms of investment as to make the city livable and economically productive.
A veteran town planner, Lekwa Ezuta, said it was a good thing that government gathered experts from various parts of the country to look at the document and make inputs. He suggested that the Aba master plan should be made in such a way that high income people would live at the outskirts of the city, while low income earners live within the city centre, to save cost for them as is obtainable in advanced countries.
Addressing why the gaps found in the draft document should be properly corrected, Ezuta said if that was not properly done, it would affect the very individuals it was meant to serve in the first place.
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“This administration has put a lot of infrastructure in place, and if the city is not well planned, these infrastructures will deteriorate in the shortest possible time”.
He added that a town which was well planned attract investors for it’s overall economic development and growth.
Akintobi Olusomi expressed joy over the contributions of the experts and promised that they will be incorporated into the final document of the UN-Habitat project led for the Aba master plan.
“The experts have made very valid points, we should have to adjust the document to accommodate their views since everybody is looking for what is implementable using the right data.”
He promised to make copies of the draft document available to the participants to be able to study and make far reaching contributions his team will work with.
Olusomi debunked the insinuation in some quarters that the document had already been sent to Abia State House of Assembly for passage into law, stressing that it was only when the final document is ready that it will be sent to the House.
Welcoming the participants earlier, the Director General, Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA), Uche Ukeje, said the review exercise of the document was part of the quality assurance and quality control process of the state government before adopting any project within the state. He noted that the in-depth analysis of the Aba Master Plan drafted by the professionals will facilitate its passage into law by the Abia House of Assembly.
Ukeje, who described the physical Master Plan as a framework for the development of cities, towns, and regions based on current realities, said that it will be such that would control human development in a predetermined state. He encouraged the experts to identify gaps in the draft based on what was promised, with the aim of getting expectations for public interest.
