BY AWELE OGBOGU
Celebration erupted at Indian Street, off Jakpa road, Effurun, headquarters of Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State over the recent removal of a blockage posed by the illegal development of a building along the street, cutting off access to Jakpa road and adjoining areas of Effurun, resulting in difficulty in movement and flooding of the area.
Speaking to The Pointer, many of the residents expressed gratitude to the Delta State Government for the action described as long over-due.
But reacting to the position of the developer that a demolition was carried out without due process, Delta State Commissioner for Urban Renewal, Engr. Ifeanyi Anoka, said it was part of the ministry’s routine development control exercise, adding that rather than calling it a demolition, it was the opening of an access road for easy movement of residents and to eliminate the incidence of flooding posed by the illegal construction of the building right in the middle of the road.
Besides, Anoka explained that the ministry exhausted all the guidelines as provided in the extant building laws of the state, such as serving the developer with all the requisite notices which he flouted, thus he cautioned him against the resort to blackmail.
Taking newsmen round the new-look access road on Sunday, Assistant Director of Town Planning, Delta State Ministry of Urban Renewal, TPL Ewesuedo Eddy described it as the end of a long journey towards opening up the access road, dating back to the days of the Ministry of Lands and long before the creation of the Ministry of Urban Renewal. He also recalled that a popular church in Warri which was located in the area years ago, as well as some influential individuals had mounted pressure for the removal of the illegal structure but to no avail. It was gathered that the developer had paid a huge sum of money to a powerful figure in the area to build on the road, hence the latter insisted that the buyer should be compensated before the structure could be removed.
Meanwhile, many residents of the area recounted sad experiences due to their inability to access Jakpa Road from Indian Street. It was gathered that while this takes only a few minutes, residents undertook a detour of not less than two hours accompanied by huge transport expenses. A landlord, Pa Udomwaribo Dennis, said all entreaties to the developer had failed and they almost lost hope before the intervention of the Delta State Government. “As one of the oldest residents of this area, I have been part of a long and bitter struggle to get rid of the structure as it made life unbearable for all of us”, he said.
He revealed that “at a point, we succumbed to their demand to pay compensation to get the illegal structure removed, when it was evident that it had been built on a right of way” adding that “we could not afford what they asked us to pay amounting to millions of naira.”
Mrs. Salvation Akpaghoro said the sight of children wading through flood waters on their way to school often made her to shed tears, while another resident, Mr. John said he no longer takes the long way round to attend Sunday service at his church located in Indian Street, but expressed sadness that the lower part of the street could not be tarred having been cut off for years by the illegal structure.
