Lagos Slams ‘Stop Work’ Order On New Lekki Gardens’ Estate Scheme
Lagos State Government yesterday issued a Stop Work order on further construction of buildings in the Lekki Gardens Phase 3, located at Olokonla Lekki area of the state.
It was learnt that the state government also summoned the management of the firm to present evidences of approval on the floors of buildings erected in the estate.
The Government also accused Lekki Gardens of encroaching on the areas reserved for ‘green environment’ in addition to erecting beyond the floors of buildings approved by the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, LASPPPA and the Lagos State Building Control Agency,(LASBCA).
It was gathered that construction works on the buildings numbering about 100 were halted by the government for offences ranging from breaching of approved lay-out and un-approved structure and encroachment into the reserve areas as well as violation of other environmental laws.
Speaking after a joint inspection tour by the agencies to Lekki-Epe axis, the LASPPPA General Manager, Mr Remi Oni-Orisan said that most buildings found on the estate belonging to Lekki Garden were built in contravention of the approved plan while some were erected without approval at all.
The LASPPPA boss said: ” There is a lot of infractions in the estate. For instance, where you are supposed to have a block of one unit, there are more than that and where there shouldn’t be anything to at all, they have erected block of flats. From what we saw on the site, what Lekki Garden is building is over building and over density but before we can reach a conclusion, we have to match what was built in comparison with what was actually approved for the firm.
“We have given the ‘stop work’ order to the firm on its ongoing structures so as not to compound the problems identified on the site. Thereafter the management of the Lekki Garden will be invited, the resident associations in the estate. They have been ordered to stop work pending investigations.
Oni Orisan described the inspection as part of the agencies’ routine exercise to avert building collapse and ensure compliance with the approved building layout plan.
Harping on the numbers of the buildings erected in the estate without approvals, Oni_Orisan added, “The above two floors structures in the estate were not approved.
” Four floors building was never approved in the layout but what you have their now is four and five floors without approval. Some of the green areas have been converted to residential areas without approval. We also notice factory within the estate and factory cannot be in the residential area.”
The LASPPPA boss, however, warned all the estate developers along Lekki Corridor to regularise their papers before the government begin to clamp down on them.
He said, “the government agencies are out again on extensive monitoring and enforcement of the law along the axis with a view to ensuring safety of the unsuspecting tenants and buyers of the houses on the axis”.
Also speaking, the LABCA General Manager, Oladotun Lasoju, an engineer, said that the state government will not compromise on the building erected on the axis, saying that soil in the areas could not be compared with other areas in the state as the state was bent at ensuring the safety of the residents.
“We will not stop until people start to comply due to issue of safety concern, the need to comply with the approval. There must not be departure at all on the issue of approved plan and what is being erected. If you are departing at all, you revert to the government to help you take a look at the plan whether it is approvable but you cannot single handedly change approved lay out,”he explained.
Lasoju said that the state government take would take appropriate action over the development on the reserved area built on by the Lekki Gardens, saying “what we have seen on the site is aberration and we must not allow further development.
” We will invite Lekki Gardens to make a position because we have seen a departure from the approved lay out. How that came to be, they will come out to tell us we are not being judgemental about it, let them come and tell us what happened,” Lasoju said.
