For the over 4,500 property owners on designated government lands in<\/p>\n
Asaba, it was a huge relief as Delta State has made good its decision not
\nto demolish their houses as it inaugurated a task force to regularize the
\ntitles for owners of such buildings. The programme affects property on
\ngovernment lands in Core Area IIA in Asaba.<\/p>\n
Under the amnesty arrangement which was approved by Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa,
\ngovernor of the state, a range of fees will now be paid by the property
\nowners in the area that will cover land allocation, approval of building
\nplans and issuance of the new digital Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).<\/p>\n
However, the amnesty comes with a caveat: All fees should be paid within a
\n90-day period. In addition, houses built on channels designated as
\ndrainage route may be pulled down while buildings that do not meet minimum
\nstandards on safety may be revisited.<\/p>\n
For residential buildings, the fees range from N1.5 million for land up to
\n1,000 square metres, N2.5 million for lands between 1,000 to 3,000 and
\nN3.5 million for those from 3,001 square metres and above.<\/p>\n
Commercial buildings have a fee ofN2 million for lands up to 1,000 square
\nmetres, N3 million for those between 1,001 and 3,000 square metres while
\nthose over 3,001 square metres attract a fee N4 million<\/p>\n
The state Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Chief Dan
\nOkenyi, who undertook a tour of the affected area said the lands belong to
\nthe government but were illegally acquired by individuals who did not
\nascertain the status of the lands before proceeding to develop. However,
\nGov. Okowa decided not to walk the path of demolition of buildings as is
\nthe case in other states and the set of fees approved for the owners of
\nthe buildings to obtain legal ownership.<\/p>\n
Okenyi said those affected are expected to pay the fees and obtain titles
\nto the lands within 90 days. He said the approval was in furtherance of
\nthe governor\u2019s resolve to take decisions based on the best interest of the
\npeople of Delta State. \u201cSenator Okowa rejected all suggestions for
\ngovernment to retake the land saying that such a move will impoverish
\nhardworking people\u201d, Okenyi said.<\/p>\n
The task force is led by Mr. Alex Eboka, a surveyor with Mr. Chuks Iku as
\nsecretary. It is expected to issue notices to owners of the buildings
\nbased on the evaluation of the lands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the over 4,500 property owners on designated government lands in Asaba, it was a huge relief as Delta State has made good its decision not to demolish their houses…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n