Edo seals 50 property over master plan violation

The Edo State Government has sealed off 50 property over violation of the state’s master plan.

The Commissioner for Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, Isoken Omo, who disclosed this in Benin at a meeting with real estate developers in the state, said his ministry had also visited 20,294 property and talked to 81,000 persons in Oredo and Ikpoba Okha LGAs on the master plan’s restoration.

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She explained that some of the sealed property posed threat to inhabitants of the area, adding that such property would be demolished.

She said, “Also, property built on unapproved land, moat, power line and right of way will be demolished by the state government.

“One of the houses we sealed is a mud house and the owner was casting a slab on top of it; taking it up. Others we sealed – two hotels on two sides of the road – the owner of the hotels put a bridge across the road so that his people can be working/walking across.”

She noted that real estate developers in the state failed to engage professionals in building construction thereby endangering the lives of the people who would live in the buildings.

She warned developers to steer clear of Okoro-Oroma, Obagie and Obayantor communities as the lands belonged to the state government and that whatever structure was built on the land would be demolished.

She gave the developers two months to regularise their operations with the state government, noting that failure to do so would be met with the full wrath of the law.

Isoke, therefore, called on the developers to partner with the state government by getting approval for their buildings in order to be able to carry out their business seamlessly.

On his part, the Managing Director of the Edo State Geographical Information Service (EDOGIS), Frank Ebowahan, lamented that most of the estates in Benin were built on government land, noting that all estates built on government land would be demolished after notice to violators.