Gabriel Enenche —
The Lagos State Government through the Commissioner of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, yesterday halted construction on buffer zone area of the Wasimi, Maryland section of Ojota-Maryland wetland that is already being developed into a residential estate.
A said that the team included the ministry’s top officials, operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Offences, Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Special Operations Unit in the governor’s office.
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Salako, while querying the indiscriminate attempt to illegally convert the buffer zone into an estate, ignoring the negative consequences it causes environment, said that the developers sand filled the wetland and began construction, thereby, willfully encroaching “on part of Opebi Park and the alignment of the proposed Opebi-Maryland-Ojota link Road conceived by the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure”, he added.
He said there was no form of title by the developers to the land from the Lands Bureau or drainage clearance from the Office of Drainage Services.
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While also adding that the development was not backed by a planning permit and had no layout approval to rely on, the Commissioner urged developers to always take advantage of the free advisory services of the ministry on planning information to guide appropriately on land use.
He further advised residents to heed the physical planning law, build right and be always conscious of the Lagos government’s zero tolerance for illegal building.
