TWO years after the public presentation of the new regional plans for Lekki, a sprawling suburb in Lagos State, experts in the construction industry are urging the state government to unveil the plans in order to stem the rising wave of unplanned developments within that axis.They said that the dilly-dallying would further give room to spates of unplanned developments within that corridor.The concerns were borne out of the fact that despite the need to ensure that the ongoing physical development along the corridor has to follow a pattern that is in conformity to the proposed plan, it appears that physical developments are going on unabated, and in haphazard forms.However, indication for the possible review of the proposal under consideration was unveiled last week when The Guardian sought for clarifications from government officials.Reacting to the development, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in the state, Mr. Toyin Ayinde said that as at that time, new proposals were considered within the context of the interim plan.His words: 'I wonder how one can review a process that has not been concluded. Is it the consultant's work schedule that is not completed that you're reviewing, or the term of reference' Until the consultants have presented the final plan to the ministry, the stakeholders and the State Executive Council (EXCO) for the final endorsement for use, you can't begin to follow the implementation programme.'He added that as at the time, new proposals were viewed within the context of this 'interim plan'.It would be recollected that the objective of the report by the consultant, Messrs. Dar Al-Handasah, was to provide the conceptual designs for the roads and utilities and primary infrastructure for the Lekki Peninsula based on the updated land use Master Plan, which was presented and discussed with the Ministry of Urban Planning and Physical Development, local authorities and stakeholders in 2009. The process was started during the administration of the former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.The Lekki sub-region comprises a naturally formed peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, east of Lagos City and on the Lagos Lagoon that includes several housing estates, gated residential developments, agriculture farmlands, areas allocated for a Free Trade Zone (FTZ), an airport, and a seaport. The project area, under consideration, is estimated to be about 60,000 hectares excluding the areas allocated for the Lekki FTZ, seaport and international airport.It should be noted that the proposed land use master plan for the Lekki sub-region envisages the Lekki Peninsula as a 'Blue-Green' Environment City. The axis is divided into various zones for different usages, namely:' the Lagoon zone ' tourism with mixed uses, commercial and business,' the north urban zone ' largely new residential,' the natural park zone ' environmental and nature Conservation Park,' the south urban zone ' existing and new residential with commercial and mixed uses as well as light industry, and' the Atlantic Coastal zone, that is mainly tourism and recreational.In addition, the updated land use master plan will provide a total built-up area of about 10,380 hectares and can accommodate a residential population of about 3.4 million people and non-residential population, such as touristic, hotels, commercial, offices, medical (hospitals and clinics) and industrial, of about 1.9 million persons.However, planners and other professionals in the industry were worried that in view of the ongoing developments in the axis, there was the possibility of erupting crisis in the future that might pitch developers with government 'except there is monitoring mechanism that may ensure that the ongoing developments are not at variance with the new regional plan.'Commenting on the matter, former President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Alhaji Waheed Kadiri, noted that planning should be proactive, however, what should not be forgotten is that basis for action should be the vision of planning in any territory.According to Kadiri, in Nigeria, planning had been made to see itself as a commercial arm (revenue generation) of government and even governance. 'Budgetary allocation to planning machinery and projects are most of the time, at federal and state levels, based on how much money they brought into government coffers the previous fiscal year.'We have never been able to let people see how much proper planning could save the people and governments through better environment, efficient transport, better and adequate infrastructure,' he said, noting, 'planning in Nigeria had been hijacked and dictated to by property developers, they dictate where planning should be, unfortunately not for the benefit of the people but to satisfy their balance book.'Citing the Opebi case in Ikeja area of the state, he said that similar planning procedure had been done before in Opebi in the early '70s when land sub-division of the area was taken over by the Ministry of Works and Planning, from the various land owners who were submitting piecemeal proposals.The result, according to him, was a better neighbourhood than what it would have been if left absolutely to the various speculative proponents.One way of getting to the right path is to fuse land control-allocation and management with development planning and control in a setting where economic reality is part of the equation.'I do not see any successful happening or creation of 'tomorrow's Cities' in Nigeria without adequate consideration of the informal sector.'Our leaders should also make us to believe that whatever is proposed is for the good of the majority and not the ruling minority. We should trust them and see them as giving us hope. Planning goes beyond the technicalities of design,' said the renowned town planner.He concluded that progressive countries were not waiting for urbanisation to happen by rural-urban migration.'Predictable as that is, we see countries like China are going further to be more proactive to build cities of tomorrow - and in so doing, preempt the pressure on infrastructure services which breed slums, poverty, chaos and decay, while countries like Mongolia are exploiting their natural resources and channelling the profits into services and jobs for their people. They are fast coming out of poverty.'Similarly, the General Secretary, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB), Mr. Kunle Awobodu, who also participated in the technical planning committee, also advocated for more proactive measures by the government.Awobodu, while recognising the need for proper study of the consultants' recommendation, noted that it should not take much time, except it was possible to stop development along the axis pending the time that government would continue the implementation of the recommendations.He predicated his advice on the fact that developers would be conscious of funds available to them by ensuring that such funds were used for the purpose by which they were sourced.'One should be conscious of the fact that developers would want to make use of money available to them to do their projects. And in a situation that there is no stop order from government, development would continue unabated, not minding whether they are in conformity with planning order or not.'A town planner and the immediate past Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development under who the project was conceived, Mr. Bolaji Francisco Abosede, declined comments. He said: 'I do not know if they have started the implementation, so I cannot comment, but how come you review a plan that has not been implemented
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