Posted by By Paul Dada on
Over 100 houses have been marked for demolition on the Lagos Island. The General Manager of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development Authority, Alhaji Taoreed Alli, disclosed this during an interactive forum with residents of the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area.
Over 100 houses have been marked for demolition on the Lagos Island. The General Manager of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development Authority, Alhaji Taoreed Alli, disclosed this during an interactive forum with residents of the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area.
Alli, who was admonishing the residents of mainland at the forum on the need to ensure that their buildings meet required standards, made reference to the findings which LASPPDA made in Lagos Island.
'We inspected over 5,000 houses in Lagos Island. We discovered that over 100 have structural deficiencies. Hence, they were marked for demolition. It was also decided that over 400 houses would be tested for their strength.'
The LASPPDA General Manager said it costs government over a million naira to demolish a building. 'It costs the state government over a million naira to demolish a building. When we mark a building, we don't immediately demolish. We write letters to the owners to demolish the houses so that they can rebuild them. But if they refuse to do anything, we demolish the buildings ourselves and take over the land.'
The seasoned town planner explained that the interactive fora usually embarked on by the agency in Lagos communities, are to partner with the people on how to ensure that buildings that are being constructed are safe. Also speaking at the forum was the chairman of Mainland Local Government Area, Hon. Jide Jimoh.
He stated that the governor Babatunde Fashola government is a people-oriented one. 'Government is to move closer to people to discuss and get positive results. We need to tighten our belt to make sure that every single street is monitored,' he said.