The Abia State Government has directed homeowners in Aba to utilize Governor Alex Otti’s 90-day moratorium on renewing or acquiring their building permits to avoid unnecessary losses.
Uche Ukeje, the Director General of the Greater Aba Development Agency, gave the directive on Friday in Aba at a press conference to announce the commencement of the moratorium.
Mr Ukeje said the briefing was to present the programme the governor approved for Aba.
According to him, the moratorium period will be from September 10 to December 9.
He said there had never been a Master Plan for Aba, but as part of the process to get one, the state needed to take stock of what it had.
“Normally, when you build a building without an approved plan, when you want to regularize it, there are penalties and there are things that come with that regularization.
“But in his wisdom and magnanimity, the governor has brought forward Christmas in the city of Aba.
Article page with promotion of financial support
“He is offering a 90-day moratorium so that anyone who has a commercial or residential building that has been built without approval can come and get approval.”
Mr Ukeje said the basic idea of the exercise was data collection and not generation of funds for the State.
He said people would be billed according to the time their homes were built, not the current one-size-fits-all rates.
The director general said the state needed the construction data for planning, as in the modern world it was difficult to plan without data.
“If you want to build hospitals, schools or any other facility, whether social or financial, the first question you will be asked is, what is your market? Who do you serve?
“And as things stand today, we don’t have that data because most things happen outside the system.
“So what we’re doing is basically providing the government with the information we need to better serve the people,” he said.
He said the 90-day moratorium was for people who owned properties to approach the Town Planning Authorities in Aba North and Aba South, Osisioma, Ugwunagbo and Obingwa to obtain the cost of their building permits.
He said that the owners of the assets would have to pay into the account of the Abia State Government and then return with proof of payment for documentation.
READ ALSO: Labour Party sets up seven-member committee to instil discipline, at odds with Abia govt
Mr Ukeje said three hotlines have been set up to report officials who want to take advantage of asset owners for their own benefit during the financial year.
“The public is advised not to deposit money into any account other than the Abia IGR account.
“And you do not offer bribes to any of our officials.
“In fact, if we see you giving money to any of our officers, we will arrest that person and we will arrest you as well,” he said.
(YAYA)