Pelican Valley in Discussion with Experts On Path For Equitable, Sustainable Urban Planning, Development In Ogun, Lagos

Pelican Valley in Discussion with Experts On Path For Equitable, Sustainable Urban Planning, Development In Ogun, Lagos

Worried by the seemingly proliferation of slums, informal settlements, congestion and other nuisances in the nation’s built industry, professional town planners and estate developers converged in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital for a two – Day workshop, to deliberate and chart a path to equitable and sustainable town, urban and regional development.

Gathering on the theme: ‘The impact of emerging technologies on urban and regional planning: challenges and opportunities,’ at the event, organised by the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), the discussants, largely from the Town Planning profession and notable players in the built – industry, including the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Ambassador (Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo, were in agreement that government is central to planning, enforcement of building guidelines and provisions essential services, particularly infrastructure to ignite development and liveable human settlements.

They expressed the concern that places like Allen Avenue,Ikeja, Adeniran Ogunsanya, Lagos were in the 60s and 70s marked as residential areas until shops and clubs started creeping in, forcing many of the residents to leave for somewhere else as their once residential settings steadily lost its grip and sanity to surging commercial activities.

They equally pointed out Admiralty Way in Lekki and dozens of other places in Lagos that have lost their original design as residential settings, and regrettably giving way inexorably to commercial and social activities as well as other nuisances because the government or its relevant agencies were not there to enforce the physical planning and building regulations.

have the power to take action. The administration of land decree of 1978 puts land in the hand of the Governor.

“No society can move forward without law and order. The private sector thrives in the building industry when rules are followed, the key to unlocking this relationship between the governments and the private sector is implementation of building guidelines and regulations.”

Responding, Tpl. Abiodun Adewolu, the Senior Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Urban & Regional Planning, identified government challenges regarding physical planning and development.

Adewole said despite the regulations in place to serve public interest, problems of infrastructure deficiency, road network, water supply, and the problem of informal settlement which has grown up to become slums as well as the problem of congestion in all ramifications – social and physical congestion, abound to make government efforts at finding solutions a daunting task.

He urged citizens to follow physical planning regulations and development laws as they are of public interest and a product of lawmakers, who are representatives of the same people.

Adewolu said, “Planning is a response to situations that affect society negatively, it is to create an environment that is liveable, where we can live, a settlement where you can live comfortably devoid of any risk. All these should be catalogued the interest of the people and injected into development plan, be it town, urban, district or regional plan It spelt out where school should be, where market or commercial activities should be so that there will be no room for informal settlement that grows into slums.

“So, in the end, everyone will live a good life but unfortunately, it is structured in a public sector led process that may entail what people , govt abridge the interest of people. Revenue generation not public interest.Town planning is not meant to be revenue generation, it should be a total public interest, but the situation has changed and that is why we are having this dilemma to a large extent.”

Similarly, Oluwole Sotire, an engineer and permanent secretary, ministry of physical planning and urban development, Lagos State, said government has a responsibility to render service to the people – citizens, it serves but also noted that citizens too are expected to pay land taxes/levies.

“We must first of all understand that citizens have to pay tax or levies to government. Whether it is equitable is another question. However, efforts should be made to involve proper stakeholders and the rest of the citizens to ensure beneficial planning and good governance,” he said.