Landuse contravention: Erring property developers to finance demolition

By Stanley Onyekwere

Landuse contravention: Erring property developers to finance demolition

Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Tpl. Shuaibu Umar, has reiterated that  property developers found violating the land use of any area in the FCT, might be made to offset the cost of demolition of their illegal structures.

He made the assertion even as the Administration has threatened to begin implementation of environmental laws, which stipulates financial penalties on offenders.

Umar, who made this disclosure while briefing journalists recently, said such approach has become imperative, following the numerous abuse of building regulations as well as town planning violations.

While blaming erring developers for the pace of flooding witnessed in Abuja in recent times, he pointed that most of the flood disasters in recorded in Abuja results from buildings erected on flood plains.

Recall that the FCT has in recent times been inundated with reports of flooding around Lokogoma, Trademore Estate, Lugbe, among another communities, with number of lives and properties lost to flash flooding.

The AMMC coordinator, while fielding questions from journalists, said when implemented, it will save government huge cost of logistics and also serve as deterrent to recalcitrant developers.

“We have a provision in the Urban and Regional Planning Law as well as provisions in the environmental law that establish the Abuja Environmental Protection Board which allows for prosecution of developers that violate building requirements and regulations.

“The law empowers us to enforce, demolish and prosecute. The law also allows us to charge erring developers to reimburse the authority all the expenses spent during that demolition.

“So we are going to commence implementation this law. Any developer found guilty of violating land use of any area, we demolish, prosecute and make sure he reimburse our enforcement. 

“In a situation where public infrastructure like bridges or roads are destroyed, we will also charge the developer to pay for whatever he may have destroyed in the course of violation of our regulation”, he stressed.

According to him, the government can not afford to sit back and watch people putting their lives and that of others at risk.

He maintained that the FCT Administration, through its relevant agencies, has played its part in ensuring that the city’s land use are adhered to in all neighbourhood.

“We are not demolishing because we want to, we are demolishing because we have to protect people’s lives. If people do not value their lives, we have the responsibility to protect it for them.

“The city’s planner perfected a plan and made sure that, “lands on flood plains are never allocated but what we have today are recalcitrant developers that encroach on green areas. I can categorically say that almost all the areas presently threatened by flood are illegal development.

“It’s not because we are not taking measures, because every time we notice an illegal development or infractions, our officers move in, stop work and mark such buildings and serve them demolition notices”, he stressed.