Lagos orders property owners, developers to comply with approved plan

The General Manager Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Oki, has ordered owners/developers of buildings under construction, which have exceeded approved building plan to revert to the original plan approved by government.

Speaking during the agency’s routine monitoring and enforcement exercise at Eti-Osa and Surulere areas of the state, Oki, who spoke through the Director of Enforcement, LASBCA, Mr. Olusoji Olopa, emphasised the need for strict adherence to the new directives by property owners/developers. He said the move is meant to ensure compliance to building approvals as part of strategies to end the menace of building collapse in the state.

Oki said: “The monitoring and enforcement exercises carried out by the agency was to ensure that buildings under construction that were earlier sealed, but were broken by owners/developers without doing the needful. It is also to ensure that the buildings that have exceeded the number of floors approved by the government without proper procedures are reverted to the original plan.”

He reiterated the need for other relevant agencies and professional bodies in the building industry to come on board and help government to stem the tides of building collapse.

He advised the building public to value life and do the right thing at all times, as it is no longer business as usual.

He added: “Life is irreplaceable, let us change our attitude to save lives and ensure that this menace does not continue any longer.”

During the exercises, seven buildings under construction were sealed at the Eti-Osa and Surulere for various building contraventions from construction without approval/authorisation to breaking government’s seals and others.

MEANWHILE, the agency has ordered the management of 1004 Estate, Victoria Island to carry out a Non-Destructive Test to ascertain the structural stability of one of the blocks in the estate, which was discovered to be visibly distressed.