In a bid to ensure compliance with the Physical Planning Law and Regulations of Rivers State, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has sealed up two oil and gas servicing companies and a training firm at the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout of Port Harcourt.

According to the Commissioner, Evans Bipi, who led the enforcement team, the companies were found to have flagrantly violated the standards and procedures of the Nigerian building codes and regulations of the ministry.

“The companies failed to meet requirements of the monitoring, verification, and compliance exercise carried out by officials of the ministry,” Bipi said.

The Commissioner also expressed disappointment that the companies failed to honour invitations extended to them by the ministry over the issues.

He, however, clarified that the sealing of the premises of the defaulting companies was done with a human face and within the ambit of the law.

“It was not meant to disrupt operations of the companies but a necessary action to compel them to comply with safety, quality, and other regulatory standards of the building industry,” he explained.

Also, the Chairman of the Special Committee on Development Control of the Ministry, David Ogbanga, explained that the companies failed to provide relevant documents required of them, including previous and current plans with elevations and setbacks, previous and current development permits, and approval on fencing and renovation.

Meanwhile, Governor Siminalayi Fubara has promised not to politicise project delivery and citizen’s welfare irrespective of the lingering political crisis in the state.

Fubara also stated that no matter how hard detractors try to starve the state of funds, his administration has continued to provide social services and infrastructure projects to the people.

The governor also boasted that his administration has never borrowed to execute any projects or pay workers salaries. According to the governor, his administration has paid the N85,000 new minimum wage he promised Rivers civil servants, which is more than the N70,000 national minimum wage.

He spoke when he inaugurated the reconstructed 11.8 kilometres of Okehi-Umuola-Eberi Link Road, along Okehi-Omuma Road, in Etche Local Council, yesterday.