Ebonyi State government, yesterday, hinted that the major reason the state has not experienced many cases of building collapse is due to the way the state government supervises buildings, both private and public.
Briefing journalists in his office, in Abakaliki, Commissioner for the state’s Capital Territory, Celestine Nwali, noted that before any building is erected, the ministry would conduct an impact assessment, which includes soil test. Nwali added that no new building is erected without the approval of the ministry.
He said: “The truth is that we don’t have a lot of building collapse in Ebonyi. That is not to say there has not been any, but not like Lagos, Abuja, Rivers, and other states of the federation.
“Any building, from three floors up, must have an impact assessment; we do the soil test and make sure it is suitable for the kind of building to be erected.
“It is the result of that impact assessment that determines the number of floors to be approved for the building. Most of these problems are foundational.
“Another issue is that some people present a building drawing of two floors, but end up erecting four or five floors building.
“The structural drawing that comes with the architectural drawing is the major issue, because the size of the rod that you will use to do a two or three floors is not the same as that of four or five floors.”
“If you don’t do a follow-up in the field, before you know it they have gone to that other level. With time that building will come under stress and will collapse.”
