Delta Government Is Interfacing With Developers --- Commissioner

In his determination to build an urban city that befits Delta State, the Commissioner for Lands, Surveys and Urban Development, Mr Chika Ossai, disclosed that the state government is in synergy with developers, saying that many new cities that are emerging across the state.

He said Illah in Oshimili north council area has been allocated to private investor, “who is also developing that area in terms of housing scheme. If you also go to Issele-Azagba, all the 276 hectares of land have been allocated to different investors who are also given the mandate that it is going to be pure housing project”.

The Commissioner made the disclosure Monday while playing host to members of the Indigenous Correspondents’ Chapel (ICC), of the Nigeria Union o Journalists (NUJ), Delta State council in Asaba.

He also revealed that the Ugbolu land which was allocated over 10 years ago, has 98 persons with valid C of O while others with pin copies were revoked, “revoked it because if you have a land allocated to you by the government and over time you did not develop neither do you have a legal document on the land, it also look as if you never valued the gesture of the state. So, we revoked all those interest and today that land is still there as the state government land. Government is also proposing what we are going to do but I know that land is met for residential purposes because Asaba, is developing on daily basis”, he said.

While noting that he has being able to get rid of ‘fake staff’ and ‘land spectacles’ from the ministry, he said the land racketeers have continued to lament his deployment to the ministry, “because they no longer have stake in this ministry”.

On multiple allocation of lands, Chief Ossai, said: “t is described multiple because sometimes when lands is allocated to people, this land if not properly acquired or allocated to the first person, government deserves the right to reallocated it”, stressing that the Land Use Act becomes ineffective when the proper way of allocation was not followed.

He said revocation is also necessary when an allocated land overrides public interest, revealing that the current land where the mechanic village is sited was formerly allocated to members of the state house of assembly but was revoked, “because the government has the right to override public interest, that land was also revoked because the mechanic village the state government is embarking on today is for public interest”.

The Lands Commissioner noted that the state government is in discussion with the former owners in order to reallocate other parcel of lands in replacement of the revoked land, adding that the airport was a residential area allocated to Deltans “but because of the airport today is an international airport and it becomes very necessary that has to expand the runway and then carry out those activities that will make the airport to be of international, we have to also allow some other plots that we allocated to people to go”.