Urban Renewal: RSG Plans Monitoring Team …Illegal Night Clubs, Motor Parks To Go

As part of measures to restore Port Harcourt’s Garden City status, the state Ministry of Urban Development has disclosed plans to set up an urban guard for surveillance and enforcement of the city’s master-plan.
The Commissioner for Urban Development, Hon. Chinyere Igwe, said the ministry was working with  environment professionals and other stakeholders on how to return the city to its former glory, as he insisted that the recent enforcement drive was not targeted only towards the traders but rather to ensure sanity on the streets.
Igwe while speaking on a phone-in programme organised by Silverbird Communications at the weekend in Port Harcourt, submitted that the city has been divided into zones with the intention to cover all nooks and crannies, as he warned developers to get approvals before constructing their buildings.
He disclosed that the ministry has identified over 54 flashpoints that need to be tackled in order to bring sanity to the city, stressing that street trading, illegal motor parks and indiscriminate auto repair shops remain the major problems facing the city.
Igwe explained that both motor parks and auto repair shops were not supposed to be built in residential areas, while calling on those who want to establish new ones to approach the ministry for approval or face the wrath of the law.
“As a government, we are following things systematically; and we will cover the whole city very soon,” he said.
Once the Urban Guard is set up, Igwe stated that they would work in collaboration with the police and other security agencies, as contraveners would be arrested and prosecuted in line with the state urban regulating laws.
The Commissioner decried the swift conversion of residential buildings to shops and markets without due approval from government, arguing that most of the street markets were as a result of illegal conversion of buildings to commercial uses.
He also said plans were underway to set up a monitoring team to enforce compliance to building codes, stating that the ministry would soon storm Eagle Island and other planned areas to restore the original master-plan.
In the same vein, he stated that soon, the ministry will move its activities to Government Reserved Areas (GRA) to rid them of night clubs, which he said, have become nuisance in such environments.
“Every night club in GRA will be shut down because activities of night clubs have defaced the area,” he said.
On indiscriminate erection of billboards and telecommunication masts, the commissioner said government has started meeting with religious bodies, telecom firms and political parties on how to regulate such activities, warning that when once advocacy and enlightenment are concluded, the ministry will begin to enforce the laws.
Igwe further disclosed plans by the Wike-led administration to move its urban renewal programmes to smaller towns with focus on Ahoada, Bori and Degema, pointing out that the vision of the present government is to decongest Port Harcourt and create other urban centres.