Lagos
The Lagos State Government on Friday declared that it would by next week commence Physical Planning enforcement on all Tank Farms illegally operating in the State.
The declaration was made by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako during a meeting in his office in Alausa and communicated through a statement by Mukaila Sanusi, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs.
The Commissioner expressed displeasure at the unapproved and illegal operations of many Tank Farms in the State, saying that no such facility should operate without Planning Permit.
He expressed concern over the indiscriminate operations of Tank Farms, which had negatively impacted the host communities and rendered residents helpless.
He says: “In most cases, the road capacity is inadequate for the activities of the Tank Farms whose operations have led to the collapse of road infrastructure, rendered critical social amenities such as school and hospital inaccessible and created urban squalors of the host communities”
Salako stated that the deliberate neglect of host communities by Tank Farms operating in the State, despite unhonoured Government overtures,
was regrettable, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that most of the outfits creating these problems were not only unapproved but also not paying taxes to the Government.
Recall that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban had met with Tank Farm Operators earlier in the year and gave a week ultimatum for them to regularise their facilities, which was followed by an additional 2- week ultimatum, a month after the first ultimatum.
The Physical Planning Commissioner maintained that there was no going back on the plan to start enforcing the extant Physical Planning laws on all erring Tank Farms as from next week since the ultimatums given had lapsed.
