Funmi Olaitan, Ibadan
Director General, Oyo State Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control, Mr Waheed Gbadamosi, on Tuesday, restated the commitment of the state government to control floods in the state, saying the government had spent only 14 per cent of the $200millon World Bank loan granted it after the August 26, 2011 flood disaster which claimed hundreds of lives and property worth several millions of naira.
Gbadamosi while addressing a ministerial briefing held at the state Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, said the repayment plan of the loan is spread over a period of 20 years with a single digit interest rate of two per cent and repayment starting after 15 years.
According to him, part of the loan is being spent on reconstruction of bridges, roads, dredging of rivers, and water channels, noting that the government has listed many of the affected sites under Ibadan Urban Flood Control and is expected to last for eight years.
He stated further that the 70 year old Eleyele water dam would be upgraded to a world class dam, disclosing that construction work is expected to commence soon.
Gbadamosi who was flanked by Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, while speaking extensively on the final draft of Ibadan Master Plan final that would be submitted next month, disclosed that 22 private radio stations that are operating without approved building plans in Ibadan would soon be closed down.
He frowned at the inability of the media houses to get approval from the appropriate agencies in the state, maintaining that most of the residential structures turned to commercial ventures especially in Ibadan would soon be asked to pay huge fine for doing such.
He said, "Over 22 radio stations don't have approved building plans. There are more than 22 of them. They don't have building plans. Most of them turned residential buildings into commercial ventures."
The DG who said that the government has decided to take necessary actions to close down the radio stations, also informed that the case has been brought to the attention of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), for necessary actions.
He said the need to take legal action and exercise patience before the closure was necessary so as not to see it as a political tool in waging war against the media in the state.
"When we want to close them down, we know it may create some security threat, we have brought the case to the attention of NBC for necessary actions and sanctions.
"The radio stations converted residential buildings to commercial ventures. Such development is going to bring and attract vehicular and human traffic to the area, is there plans for that?
"If you change your structure from residential to commercial, you will pay N25million fine/fee. The laws have to be obeyed, people must conform, you cannot see a white man starting a construction without a building plan. By the time we imposed a very huge fine, it will serve as a deterrent to others.
"We are ready to transform Oyo State within the short period that is left.
"There are so many abandoned buildings and dilapidated structures in the state, they are constituting security threat to the people of the area. You know they are abode for miscreants and they have to go", he said.
