Lagos state government has said that getting a planning permit in Lagos would now take just 10 days.
The government has introduced a series of innovations to make the process attractive, friendly, and seamless.
The general manager of the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA), Kehinde Osinaike, at a one-day seminar, said: “It is now compulsory to complete the Planning Permit processing within 10 working days for some category of development proposals.
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The seminar, ‘Improving the Planning Permit Process for Ease of Doing Business in Lagos State’, was organized in conjunction with the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN).
According to Osinaike, the innovations were introduced because Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration believes in a voluntary compliance approach to the planning permits.
He said: “It is in fulfillment of government policy that LASPPPA recently introduced a series of innovations that made Planning Permit processes attractive, friendly, and seamless to the public. One of the innovations is the 10-Day Deal, a policy which makes it compulsory to complete the process of Planning Permit within 10 working days for some category of development proposals. Hitherto, it was 28 days. This excludes encumbrances for non-compliance with tax policy
“We also created additional District Offices to reduce workload, ensure higher efficiency, and bring Approving Offices closer to the people. The number of District Offices moved from 30 to 50 within two years, including the e-pp Office at the headquarters. We are committed to having offices in all the 57 local government areas.
“We also offer free services for planning information. This is to ensure that prospective land buyers first obtain information on the status of the land before agreeing to the transaction; we grant provisional planning permits on properties with unregistered titles with a validity of nine months. This is to allow prospective house owners to process title documents and embark on construction simultaneously.
“We grant pilling permits to high-rise buildings once payments are made, to ensure projects are timely delivered, among others.”
Osinaike added that the agency will continue to collaborate with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), professional bodies in the built industry, civil society organizations, community leaders, and relevant MDAS on reporting of illegal and non-conforming developments so Lagos can be a safe space for everyone.
The head of research and development in the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory, Titilayo Lawal, stressed the importance of testing building materials to ensure safer buildings. According to her, ensuring safe building materials could be related to safe and healthy eating.
She said: “Our job at the laboratory is to test the viability of construction materials so we can have safer structures. Most people don’t know that water for construction requires same quality as drinking water.
“Saline water is bad for construction because the salt will cause the iron to corrode. Sand, steel, and concrete cubes, among others, all need to be tested to ensure they are right for the structure to be erected.
Director-General of the Lagos Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, harped on the need for occupational safety at construction sites.
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He urged site managers to employ a safety official who will enforce compliance to safety guidelines, and report infractions to the appropriate authority
Source: nationonline.net
