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Lagos demolishes building on drainage channel

Lagos State government yesterday pulled down a storey building around Ilupeju for contravening building permit and regulations laws. The demolition was carried out by the Lagos Building State Control Agency (LASBCA).

 

The LASBCA General Manager (GM), Gbolahan Owodunni Oki, vowed that the agency would go after building on drainage channels, unapproved and those constructed without compliance to the approved plan and design.

 

Oki said Lagos would no longer condone flagrant abuse of the building laws, non-compliance to the approved plan and other atrocities usually perpetrated by the developers, contractors and property owners. He said the state had the right to ensure buildings were properly planned and built to guarantee safety of lives and property.

The GM added that lack of adherence to the building plans was responsible for most tragedies resulting from building collapse and haphazard development. He explained that the building in question was identified by a team of LASBCA monitoring officers in August 2020. Oki added that the building owner failed to comply with the warnings after all efforts by the agency. He said: “The demolition of a building at Olutunda Street, off Ade Akinsanya Street, Ilupeju, is a demonstration of the state government’s commitment to zero tolerance to unapproved and haphazard building construction in the state. “The building was identified by a team of LASBCA monitoring officers in August 2020 and all efforts by the agency to prevail on the recalcitrant owner to tow the line of due process and best practices in consonance with Lagos State Building Control Regulations proved abortive as the owner continued with construction of the building unabated.” Oki said the illegal structure, which had no building approval, was built on a drainage channel, wall fence and with no airspace.

 

The building, he said, had previously been served all statutory enforcement notices in line with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Development Law of 2010 with no response from the owner/ developer hence the agency had to remove the building.

 

The GM noted that the decision was taken after a thorough engineering appraisal and monitoring of the building by the agency with a view to ensuring better physical planning environment for sustainable development and averting needless loss of lives and property.

 

Oki added that the demolition was a signal to any would-be recalcitrant developer who might want to circumvent government rules and regulations as provided by regulatory provision of the law, the structures shall be removed by the agency and the cost of removal shall be borne by the owner.

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