By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
The Town Planner Umar Shuaibu, the Coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), today in Abuja condemned cases of the persistence violation of building rules and regulations by many stubborn developers.
Shuaibu who made the remark at a conference complained that the actions of some developers escalate the simple procedures which soon becomes security, legal and social matters, with very dire consequences to the well-being of the city.
He pointed out that the Department of Development Control had in so small way contributed to ensuring compliance with the standard and regulations for building Abuja.
” It is worrisome to note that while the department has simplified the procedure and processes for granting building permits, there are many recalcitrant developers that always refused to abide by the set rules and regulations.”
” The first and most important procedure in the process of building plan approval is the confirmation of tittle document and land ownership submitted by the developer.”
” This usually become a major source of hindrance to the development of many plots in the city,” he said.
The coordinator, therefore, urged intending developers to be sure that there was no contending issues surrounding plot ownership before granting a development permit.
” Unfortunately, out of desperation or treachery on the part of some developers, our staff, in the course of ensuring due process and fairness in handling ambiguous matters become victims of unwarranted harassment with framed-up charges against them by some dubious and recalcitrant developers.”
On the issues of land he urge security agencies to always dig and thoroughly investigate matters from the relevant FCT agencies before prosecution on any complain on land matters.
