By our Reporter
Ogun state government on Sunday, September 10, said DATKEM Plaza, Ijebu Ode is an illegal structure without an approved plan.
The government also maintained that the structure contravened the state’s physical planning laws.
This was contained in a statement signed by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olayiwola Abiodun.
Abiodun noted that the structure violated the building codes of the state with numerous defects.
He said several efforts made by the state government to halt further development on site were ignored by the developers.
He mentioned that government officials had requested the structural engineer responsible for the building to provide the state with an assessment of the building’s structural stability, but this request was disregarded.
The statement recalled the various incidences of building disasters across the country, adding that the Ogun State Government will not fold its arms and allow such an occurrence.
It noted that many such disasters, such as fire outbreaks at Ikorodu, led to the loss of precious lives.
According to the permanent secretary, what the government did in partially pulling down the defective building was to be proactive.
Abiodun, however, challenged the owners of the structure to produce evidence of government approval in their possession.
He said that for a commercial building of that status, there must be parking space to accommodate vehicular traffic within and outside the facility for workers and visitors, saying that the provision of the law is for 45 to 50 per cent of available land for construction as a buildable area.
The permanent secretary added that the building lacked stage certification, which is usually issued at every stage of construction.
He said that owners were served the necessary notices, including abatement, contravention, stop work and demolition between May and October 2022, which were ignored.
According to the statement, DATKEM Enterprises Limited submitted an application for an office building, located along Ibadan Road, Ijebu Ode in 2009 with registration number CB/05/299/2009
He said: “The proposal was for five (5) floors with an airspace of 3 metres at the right, 5m at the left, 5metres at the rear and a setback of 32.5516 metres to the middle of Ijebu Ode/Ibadan road, Ijebu-Ode.
“The Zonal Town Planning Office observed during routine monitoring that the construction on site did not conform to the plan granted as there was a deviation from the airspaces and setback.