by Stephen Agwaibor
The Lagos State Government has said it has put on hold the unapproved development of the Wasimi, Maryland section of Ojota-Maryland wetland into a residential estate.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, on Thursday led the special operation, involving officers of the Ministry and operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Offences, the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Special Operations Unit in the Governor’s Office.
A statement from the ministry said the commissioner expressed displeasure over the indiscriminate attempt to illegally convert the buffer zone into an estate without thought to the attendant negative consequences to the environment.
He noted that the developers of the estate, who had sand-filled the wetland and commenced construction, had willfully encroached on part of Opebi Park and the alignment of the proposed Opebi-Maryland-Ojota link road, conceived by the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.
Salako said the developers of the site did not have any form of title to the land from the lands bureau or drainage clearance from the Office of Drainage Services.
He added that the development was neither backed by a planning permit nor had a layout approval to rely on and urged developers to always avail themselves of the free advisory service of the ministry on planning information to guide appropriately on land use.
Salako called on Lagosians to respect the physical planning law while being conscious of the state’s zero tolerance for illegal building.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-OLu Lagos stops estate development on Ojota-Maryland wetland
