The Oyo State government has mandated all owners of residential structures now used for commercial purposes to either return them to their original residential state or pay N25 million fine to continue to use it for business purposes.
Director-General, Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control in the state, Mr Waheed Gbadamosi, handed down this directive in an interaction with journalists at the state secretariat, Ibadan, the state capital, on Tuesday.
Gbadamosi said the directive was to manage the increasing conversion of residential neighbourhoods in Ibadan to commercial spots, like hotels, club houses, strip clubs, among others.
He noted that many found guilty failed to get approval of the state government before making such conversion.
Speaking further, he decried that a huge number of illegal structures with many without building approval, several built under high tension lines and thousands built on waterways, floodplains.
He also disclosed that 70 per cent of filling stations had no building approval, thus not observing setback regulations.
Gbadamosi said the ongoing demolition of over 300 illegal structures at Ajoda new town, Ibadan-Ife Road was a tip of the iceberg, with thousands of structures still to be demolished.
In the same vein, Gbadamosi noted that most radio stations in Ibadan did not have a building approval plan.
He said such structures impacted on vehicular traffic where they were sited.
Gbadamosi, who spoke alongside the states Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun and Coordinator, Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project, Mr Dayo Ayorinde, also decried that several abandoned structures dotted the state.
Ayorinde disclosed that the Ibadan master plan being developed would address the unplanned nature of Ibadan and its susceptibility to flooding.
Addressing flooding, Ayorinde said massive construction cum repair of 14 bridges, culverts, drainages would commence in October aside four ongoing projects.
When questioned on the $200 million World Bank loan received by the state government following the August 2011 flood disaster, Ayorinde said only about 14 per cent of the loan had been disbursed, while Arulogun added that plans were ongoing to uplift the Eleyele dam to a tourist centre.
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