By Francis Igata

ENUGU—WORRIED by the illegal activities of developers in Enugu metropolis and their unbridled quest to amass land by all means, the Enugu State Capital Territory Development Authority, ECTDA, last Monday, swung into action to avert the looming flood danger triggered by the developers.

Although some of the developers claim they legally acquired the parcels of land they have built structures on waterways, drainage channels and on top of public utilities with Certificates of Occupancy, these structures which did not get the approval of ECTDA have been left vulnerable  to an impending flood disaster.

Already, parts of Ugwuaji,Ebeano tunnel road, Gulf Estate, Nike-Lake Hotel, Trans-Ekulu Bridge, Railway quarters,among others within the metropolis are now grappling with the attendant consequence of the primitive parcellation of land by the immediate past administration at Enugu State Housing Authority which gave way for developers to build on flood planes and low lands.

The prevailing flood danger prompted Commissioner for ECTDA, Chidi Aroh,to raise alarm, calling on relevant stakeholders which include National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, State Emergency Management Agecy, SEMA, Department of State Services, DSS, Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, Enugu State House of Assembly, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, Town Planning Authority, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Agency, NERSRA, to rally round and proffer solution to what he described as a,”national threat” to the people of the State.

ECTDA core functions

While conducting the stakeholders round the affected 141 sites,Aroh,who was close to tears following the Lagoons and waterlogged areas springing up at the affected area said,”our core functions as an agency is the monitoring and enforcement of development control and municipal services in the capital territory. The metropolis comprises of Enugu-East,Enugu-North and Enugu-South Local Governments. Part of our responsibility is that we are the only agency Government allowes by Law,to approve any development in the municipal area within these three council areas.

“Our core function makes its imperative that if you submit drawings for approval,we will do site visit,we must be sure that the area you want to build must be in line with what you submitted to us. We must be sure that even when we give approval,we must monitor to ensure that the structure under construction is in line with our approval. As it now in the metropolis,you will see Churches, Hotels being built in residential areas.

“That is why you see people complain that fellowship is going by 12 midnight and they can’t sleep,it is because somebody has built a Church within residential area. We have discovered in the process of enforcement of development within the municipal area that a looming danger of flood is rife in Enugu.

We discovered this last year. We started by cautioning and to stop developers from further action. Where the building has been completed already,we advised them to take remedial action. But majority of the building based on the findings from our technical team needs to be pulled down.

“This government is a listening one that is why we have restrained ourselves from taking major action because the kind of action we need is such if the stakeholders are partnering with us,people may misinterpret the our enforcement drive. All the properties on waterways were marked with dates telling developers to stop but they have defied our orders. In some sites where we have marked stop work order,when we visited with all the agencies I mentioned as stakeholders,work was still going on.

“That is why we asked stakeholders, let us come together because the option is very clear between destroying the city completely and risking the lives of the people and also doing the needful. Building on waterways and blocking drainage channels is a national security threat issue because if you allow flood to take the lives of 30-40 persons in the city,then what is more of a threat to national security than that. The oath we took derives from our responsibility to protect lives and properties of people and the moment we cannot do that,we are not worth our name.

“People sealed drains and built on them. What if we need to desilt? People scrapped the rail lines and built on top of it. Some of them walled in a public utility inside their compound and it became part of their compound. How do some of the agencies have access in the privacy of a man’s compound?

All the sites have received more than five orders instructing the developer to stop work because none of them had approval from ECTDA to build the structures. All the buildings marked were built on waterways,drainage channels,on top of public utilities and without set backs from river banks.

“They reclaim land by sand filling the area and also obstruct the natural waterway. This action will consctrict the flow of water and redirect the water flow to another area. The houses obstruct natural flow of water which make the river fight for an escape route. That is why you see Lagoons springs up in parts of the metropolis.”

Enugu House demands drastic action

The Enugu State House of Assembly has demanded drastic action from the Executive urging ECTDA to quickly implement the existing Law which frowns at the structures that contravenes the Enugu metropolis master plan.

Chairman House Committee on ECTDA, James Akadu, representing Igbo-Etiti West constituency, while frowning at the action of the developers,gave ECTDA the marching order, saying,”we demand a drastic action to forestall Enugu metropolis from being submerged. This is totally unacceptable.

“The enabling Law has been passed and signed and we demand an implementation from ECTDA. We will continue to support the ECTDA in its fight to restore the original master plan of the city and deter developers from building on flood planes in the state.”

NSE frowns atlevel of decay: Enugu State chapter Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, Ifeanyi Ofili frowned at, “the level of flagrant disobedience of stop order from ECTDA. In this case,the only remedy is for the authority to remove all the structures confirmed to be on waterways, drainage channels and on top of public utilities.

“We will not shy away from our duties to support actions that will not denigrate the environment. All the structures seen will certainly have defects with time because approval for the buildings were not obtained from the appropriate quarters.”

Coordinator,National Environ-mental Standards and Regula-tions Agency, NERSRA, Enugu zonal office,Nnanna Mba said,”as an agency,we are charged with the responsibility of a safe and better environment. The structures we have seen are all in clear violation of environmental guideline which denigrates the city.