Worried by its position as the state with the highest building collapse incidents in Nigeria in 2022, the Lagos State government has come up with changes in its building permit and approval processes to prevent further collapses.
Bisi Adedun, a researcher at Estate Intel, says that 20 building collapse incidents in Lagos in a single year gives cause for concern, noting that Kano with seven incidents comes a distant second, while Anambra with five incidents comes third. “This is why the present move is not only timely but also necessary,” he said.
He recalled that the state had, early in July this year, increased the cost of the building permit process. The increase, which is retroactive, applies to permit applications submitted up to five years ago, meaning that older applicants will have to pay the deficit. The increased cost, though not uniform across board, depends on the type of permit with some registering up to 100 percent increase.
Oluwole Sotire, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, disclosed recently that the state has introduced what it calls the Certified Accreditor Programme and Certificate of Structural Integrity Programme as new measures to stop building collapse.
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“It is our plan to implement initiatives to fast-track building approval, curb collapses, and enhance service delivery in the construction sector. These new schemes are designed to encourage private sector involvement in the building approval process,” the permanent secretary said.
The scheme, he added, would be executed in conjunction with a certified accreditor/consulting firm or a consortium of registered consultants to carry out screening of technical drawings, stage certification and random monitoring of projects. He listed the professionals as town planners, civil and structural engineers, architects, mechanical engineers, and registered geoscientists.
“These consulting firms/consortiums will be accredited in different grades ranging from grade 1 to 4 depending on their years of experience,” the perm sec said, explaining that those in Grade 1 must be professionals that have, at least, 15 years of practical experience and one team member must have experience in the area of specialisation to be deployed.
Those in Grade 2, he added, are professionals that have, at least, 15 years of experience and are eligible to work on buildings of any number of floors. Grace 3 involves professionals with at least 10 years of experience and are eligible to work on buildings of up to 10 floors, while in Grade 4, professionals must have at least 5 years of experience and are eligible to work on buildings of up to 5 floors.
To implement these measures, Sotire underscored the importance of collaboration with the private sector in order to be successful. He said the government embraced the participatory approach after its engagement with professionals in the built environment.
The effectiveness of these changes will determine the success of the schemes,” he said, adding, “while changes to the building approval process are long overdue, the true success of the schemes will depend on its effectiveness in ensuring only quality buildings are delivered within the state; this way, the state can stymie building collapses and protect the lives and properties of its residents.”
It is the expectation of the permanent secretary and, indeed, every Lagos resident particularly players in the real estate sector, that the number of collapse incidents will reduce drastically once the new schemes take effect.
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