New Telegraph

Lagos to demolish 102 distressed buildings next week

Flummoxed by the incessant collapse of buildings, Lagos State government may from next week demolish about 102 distressed buildings.

 

According to a New Telegraph investigation, the affected 102 distressed buildings, which have been identified and marked, cut across all the local government areas of the state, having failed integrity tests.

 

Further investigation has shown that most of the distressed buildings are located within Lagos Island, Yaba and Ebute-Meta.

 

The identified buildings (both existing and under construction), it was learnt, cannot stand the test of time.

 

An official of Lagos State Building Control Authority (LABCA), who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told our correspondent yesterday that owners of the affected distressed buildings had been served notices to remove them.

 

According to the official, inhabitants of the marked buildings have also been advised to relocate. “We are going to begin the demolition of identified 102 distressed buildings in Lagos state next week,” the source said.

 

The official added that the demolition of the houses would be in phases, assuring that the government was committed to eradicating the menace of building collapse in the state.

 

The latest drive by the state government to pull down all distressed buildings in the metropolis was not unconnected with the sudden rise in building collapse in the state.

 

Two buildings collapsed in Lagos State last Saturday with three casualties and nine injured persons.

 

The first structure was a three-storey building that caved in about midnight at 20, Freeman Street, Lagos Island. Three persons were confirmed dead in the incident, while nine were rescued from the rubble of the building.

 

A police constable attached to Ikoyi Division, Risikat Balogun, and two children died in the collapsed building. Same day, a one-storey building partially collapsed in the Ikotun area.

 

The one-storey building was said to house nine shops and 15 rooms. Fortunately, there was no life lost or injuries recorded.

 

Anofficialof LABCA told New Telegraph yesterday that the government was yet to complete the investigation on what led to the collapse of the three-storey building on  Lagos Island.

 

According to him, both houses were earlier marked as distressed buildings, having failed integrity tests before the unfortunate incidents.

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