…Declares zero tolerance on building without approval, building on drainages.
The Lagos State Government, through the state Building Control Agency, LASBCA, on Monday, embarked on the removal of the carcass of the partially collapsed building at No 19, Herbert Macaulay Street, Ebute Metta.
This happened just as it removed three severely distressed buildings as well as marked several others for demolition in furtherance of the state government zero tolerance to incidences of building collapse in the state.
The General Manager of the agency, Arc. Gbolahan Oki, in his reaction to the ongoing demolition of structures across the state, said that removal of all distressed buildings in the state became necessary to prevent building collapse and its attendant loss of lives and properties.
Oki said that all the buildings in question were identified as distressed structures by a team of LASBCA Monitoring Officers early in the year, and all efforts by the agency to prevail on the recalcitrant owners of the affected buildings to toe the line of due processes and best practices in consonance with state-building control regulations, fell on deaf ears, hence, its removal over the weekend.
Oki said further that all the identified severely distressed structures have failed Non –Destructive Structural Integrity Test, with some built on drainage channels, fences without airspace.
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“The buildings have been served all the statutory enforcement notices in consonance with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of 2019 as amended and with no response from the respective Owner/Developer before they were eventually removed by the Agency,” Oki stated.
The General Manager stressed that the decision was taken after a thorough engineering appraisal and monitoring of the building carried out by the agency in the state with a view to ensuring a better physical planning environment for sustainable development and averting needless loss of lives and properties.
Oki, added that “the demolition is a signal to any would-be recalcitrant developer who circumvents government rules and regulations as provided by a regulatory provision of the law, the structures shall be removed by the agency and the cost of removal will be borne by the owner.”
He noted that people have shown disregard for the state laws on building construction in the past which the resultant effect is worrisome.
Oki, therefore, appealed to building owners and developers to desist from starting a building project without obtaining building approval.
He urged building owners/developers to always seek authorisation from LASBCA, hire the services of relevant professionals, speak to safety and test their building materials before commencement of building construction subject to the type of structures they are putting in place to make the building safe, secure and fit for habitation.
(Vanguard)
