The Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Lands has said its investigation supports the plan to build an estate on the green belt in a vast gorge separating the Magodo GRA phases 1 and 2, in the Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area of the state.
The committee Chairman, Adedamola Kasunmu, said reports it got through various government agencies, including the drainage service and the New Town Development Authority, indicated that developmental projects could be done on the green belt if the drainage channel was upgraded to enable the waterway to have access to flow.
Kasunmu spoke during a press briefing at the Assembly complex.
“I will want to call our attention to a part of the position made by the drainage service. We have established that it is a green belt area, but we also further established that development can go on around that axis based on a certain recommendation that if any developmental project would go on around that site, an upgrade to the drainage channel should be made to suit the purpose of the floodplain and give the waterway free access to flow so that it would not deter any developmental project. It is based on that professional premise that the house committee made the recommendations,” he said.
However, PUNCH Metro had reported that officials from the Drainage Enforcement and Compliance Unit of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment recently visited the flood-prone green belt to serve a stop-work order on the owners of buildings under construction.
The state Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tunji Bello, in his reaction, had said the government would not allow such developments and would protect the green belt areas.
“The absence of monitoring and enforcement of such areas in the past four years has led to a lot of encroachment,” he had told our correspondent.
When PUNCH Metro called the lawmaker’s attention to Bello’s statement on the matter, Kasunmu, who said he could neither confirm nor discredit the statement, said, “If there are opportunities that can be explored in terms of access along that side, of course, it is a position to explore. But the final decision is based on the resolution of the Speaker and the House of 40. We as a committee can only make recommendations based on our investigations. We cannot affirm that this is where the position is going, either for or against; the resolution of the House determines the final answer.”
Also, the NTDA’s stand on the project, under the leadership of the former General Manager, Adenrele Oni, and the new Acting General Manager, O.J Aboyeji, had been greeted with contradictions.
Oni, after reportedly investigating the project, had stated that building an estate on the green belt could spell danger for the surrounding communities.
He had, based on findings of his investigations, declared that the project was illegal.
“This particular area (green belt) is purposely left to absorb storm water; the NTDA will not agree that it should be made use of,” he had said.
However, during the Assembly briefing, Aboyeji said Oni did not carry out any investigation.
He said, “I was on leave when the incident occurred; I have never seen any investigation. There is no evidence in the file that Adenrele Oni carried out an investigation.”
When asked if it was right to use a green belt for residential purpose, Aboyeji said, “I cannot say my view on that, but all I know is that we don’t grant building plan approval; it is the Ministry of Physical Planning that grants building or layout approval. It is the approving authority that has the right to say whether it is right or wrong.”
Reacting, the Chairman of Gateway Zone CDA, Oyebode Ojomu, said the position of the association was for the green belt to be left alone.
“And as such, it cannot be developed as a residential estate, let alone the unachievable fantasy of opening our gates to people who want to destroy our environment and open us to flood and landslides.
“The Lagos House of Assembly Land Matters Committee members are not telling the public all the truth on recommendation, resolutions and execution. The meeting called by the new GM, NTDA, was an execution order of their premeditated action with instructions – we are coming to remove your caveat emptor signboard, you must open your gate for them — that’s the recommendation of LAHA.” Punch