TELL Magazine

   ...Says most layout plans not registered

In a move to checkmate the activities of fraudulent property developers who operate unregistered estates in Edo State, the government has initiated the process of sanitising the building environment.

Towards this end, the state government has called a meeting of all estate developers in Benin City to deliberate on measures in ensuring sanity and adherence to extant planning codes by operators in the market.

In a statement, Commissioner for Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, Isoken Omo, said the meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 21, 2022 at the conference room of the Ministry of Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, Secretariat Complex in the state capital.

According to Omo, “We have scheduled a meeting of all estate developers in Benin City to hold on Thursday, where they would meet with the Commissioner and other relevant government officials to deliberate on the salient issues relating to estate development.

“We will also be discussing the registration of their layout plans as most estates being sold in Benin City now are not registered. This affects our database and the estates are not incorporated in the masterplans.

“We are committed to ensuring sanity in the building environment and would want to work with all stakeholders to ensure that the development in the state is orderly, coordinated, and in line with extant estate development regulations.

“We would like to have all the estate developers in the state on a round table so we can discuss and iron out any issue they might have and also intimate them on the government’s policies affecting their business.

“It is pertinent to do this because we want to protect members of the public and reduce incidence of exploitation and any untoward practice that might predispose investors to fraudulent persons.”