Any structural development commenced henceforth in Anambra State without a permit will be brought down as an illegal structure.
The Chairman, of Anambra State Physical Planning Board, ANSPPB, Barr Chike Maduekwe disclosed in a press briefing on Thursday to mark the commencement of the operation across parts of the State.
Recently, two out of three buildings under construction at the Oduigbo section of the Ochanja Market, Onitsha had collapsed, resulting in the death of about 10 persons, while many were injured.
The State Government through the ANSPPB, had embarked on the demolition of the remaining three buildings, claiming the developer undertook the project without approval.
In a briefing yesterday, the agency said it is immediately commencing operation ‘Show Your Permit’ where any building started henceforth must present their permit, or risk being pulled down immediately.
Maduekwe insisted that if the right things were done in the approval process of the Oduigbo structures at Ochanja market, the buildings wouldn’t have collapsed and innocent lives wouldn’t have been lost.
“It is worrisome that people do not come for approval and when our staff come to their sites to check on what is going on, these developers assault them. When we issue stop work or notice on the sites, they clean them up the notices and continue what we are doing.
“We have had our staff wounded many times.
“The impunity has become so much and people don’t care. The reason why we think it is now appropriate to send out this warning is that we are getting tired of chasing people about to do the right thing.
“We are tired of having to treat our staff who sustained injuries from these people. We are tired of wasting resources to mandate the people to come and get approval.
“Immediately, we will begin operation show your building permit.
“We have the instruction of the governor to demolish any structure without approval to serve as a deterrent to others.
“People will tell us that the cost of building is very high and things are difficult. But the cost of irresponsibility is equally very much higher.
“If you look at the Oduigbo unfortunate incident, you will find that that building had gone on without approval. When the developer brought the demand for approval to us, we found that the building had already gone up and we wrote the appropriate authorities demanding that the developer address some very fundamental issues before we can give approval.
“We were at this before this building came down.
“You could see how angry the Governor was when he visited the site because we lost innocent lives.
“That is the reason why we are sending out this warning that we are no longer going to tolerate such rascality,” he said
Maduekwe noted that government agencies are not exempted from the directive.
“The reason why you require approval is to make sure that what you are building is consistent with the approval you are given and to ensure the structural integrity of the structures you are building.
“So, it has become a policy of the state that in the interest of the state, people must obtain their permits,” he said.
