The Bauchi State Government on Saturday commenced the Service layout of all government-owned lands for proper erection of buildings in the state.
Mr Umar Mukaila, Head of Site and Services, Bauchi State Ministry of Lands and Survey, said the exercise began with the service-layout of 343 plots of government land in Turun area of Bauchi.
He said that the exercise would provide the necessary infrastructure before people start building them.
Mukaila said that the present administration deemed it necessary to embark on the exercise to curtail the illegal activities on its land.
“One of the objectives of this exercise is to provide service layout for all the government-owned lands with infrastructure being provided by either the government or private developer.
“Most of our layouts in the past were not service layouts, as a result of that, it has given room for violation, illegal subdivision and all sorts of illegality.
“However, this government sees the need to curtail such kinds of activities.
”The government will provide a new way of service layout where once it is created, there will be infrastructure like service roads, drainages, electricities before being allocated,” he said.
Mukaila said that the Ministry would also reclaim most of the government’s layouts that had been bastardised and restructure them with the same service layout taking place on the 343 plots of land in Turun.
“We are working here today, activities are taking place, the road opening is taking place and we are going to extend same to other areas,” he said.
Mukaila revealed that the ministry would work in partnership with private companies to provide service layout with infrastructure in any area where building was going to be erected.
He said that the idea was to have a befitting look of a modern construction in the state.
Also speaking, Abdullahi Mohammed, Chairman, Board of Directors, Bauchi State Urban Planning and Development Board (BSUPDB), said that the exercise was a reactivation of effective town planning in the state.
The chairman said that the city of Bauchi was developed as an amorphous settlement with no proper drainage systems.
He said that town planning exercise was coming back to play its roles in the state.
“If you look at the city centre of Bauchi, it was developed as an amorphous kind of settlement with no drainage and you can hardly pass through in some places.
”We can’t continue to live in the past of about 200 years ago.
“When you have a layout with roads and drainages, there are so many advantages health-wise, security-wise and so on. That is the essence of this service layout exercise,” he said.
Mohammed decried the way at which houses were built in a very congested manner.
He noted that the situation makes it difficult for fire service vehicles to gain access to some buildings in the case of a fire disaster.
He appreciated the state governor, Bala Mohammed for coming up with such a laudable initiative, saying it would correct such anomaly. (NAN)
