Date: 2017-12-27

Proliferation of filling stations and construction of buildings without necessary approvals would soon be a thing of the past in Kwara State, says the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dr. Ali Ahmad.

To achieve this, Ahmad disclosed that the state legislature had recently passed a new State Town Planning Law which would address the congested Ilorin Master Plan and put permanent solutions to filling stations indiscriminate springing up in the nooks and crannies of the state.

A release issued by the Speaker's Special Assistant on Media, Shuaib Abdulkadir on Tuesday expressed the lawmaker's delight and described the passage as one of the major achievements of the 8th Assembly so far.

It will be recalled that the House on receiving a petition about two years ago on the indiscriminate construction of filling stations particularly in Ilorin, the state capital ,sprang up into action by constituting an Ad-hoc Committee to address the issue.

The committee discovered that several filling stations did not meet the requirements and were sited in residential areas, thereby constituting danger to the inhabitants living in and around their locations.

Ahmad, who described the assignment as a worthwhile, revealed that the legislators discovered that the present law establishing Town Planning Development Authority is weak, hence the new Law to address the challenges.

Lamenting that defaulters in the past have been capitalising on the affected weakness in the existing law to perpetrate their acts, the Speaker said the old law was not capable of meeting with the expected development.

He, however, urged Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to assent the Bill soon with a view to filling the missing gaps in the old law and ensure that approval for construction in the state is henceforth decentralised.

"I'm one of the most proud Kwarans presently because the enquiry that was launched into the petition on the issue of proliferation of filling stations in the state capital about two years ago has resulted into a passage of a new State Town Planning Law that will correct the Ilorin Master Plan and put permanent solution to the issue"

"The committee discovered that the law is faulty and not capable of meeting up with the development. Once the governor signs the new law, I will be the happiest Kwaran", he added.

The Speaker also thanked the Chairman, House Committee on Housing, Lands and Urban Development, Hon. Adamu Usman and other members for a job well done.