Photo Commissioner for Commerce, Trade & Industry, Dr. Chimezie Ukaegbu; his Information & Culture counterpart, Prince Okey Kanu and GM, UCDA, Kingsley Agomuo, during the briefing
Abia moves to check building collapse,plans standard materials testing laboratory
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Photo
Commissioner for Commerce, Trade & Industry, Dr. Chimezie Ukaegbu; his Information & Culture counterpart, Prince Okey Kanu and GM, UCDA, Kingsley Agomuo, during the briefing
To check the incidences of building collapse and road failures, Abia State Executive Council (EXCO) has approved the setting up of Standard Materials Testing Laboratory in Umuahia.
Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this Monday evening while briefing Journalists in Government House, Umuahia, on the outcome of this week’s EXCO meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
The Commissioner said it has become necessary to set up the Standard Materials Testing Laboratory because incessant collapse of buildings in Nigeria has inflicted human and material losses on the country, hence the need to arrest the ugly development.
“This government is trying to ensure that such instances do not occur in our State. The lab may include where they test materials for road construction. It will also provide a platform for a research for those who want to carry out research in such areas. They will be able to use such a facility to carry out research when you want to test the strength of a material and all that,” Prince Kanu said.
Elaborating on the Standard Materials Testing Laboratory, the General Manager, Umuahia Capital Development Authority (UCDA), Mr. Kingsley Agomuo, explained that it would ensure standardization in the built environment.
“This is also going to assist us to ensure that every building, road construction, including bridges meet the required standards. You are also aware that the use of substandard materials is the order of the day, so with this, it’s going to be pretty difficult for you to start any construction work and get any approval at any stage without subjecting the materials you are going to use through this laboratory,” Agomuo said.
The UCDA General Manager, who said that the lab would also be set up in other parts of the State, explained that the facility would have the capacity to handle soil test, reinforcement of rods, aggregate materials and asphalt. He said the lab tests would not be restricted to building alone but would include other forms of constructions.
In another development, Abia State Government has called on residents of the state capital, Umuahia, who installed illegal gates on their streets to remove them to enhance free flow of traffic within city.
“As it is usual in our style, the streets and areas where these gates exist, the people there will be pleaded with to do the needful to provide access. If they don’t do so, government will enforce compliance,” the Commissioner for Information and Culture said, stressing that those illegal gates impede movements in times of emergencies.
He also added that attachments or extensions to buildings must be equally removed in the cities. He said: “If you look round the city, you would see a lot of buildings that bear extensions in front, we call them attachments, we call them extensions. But what is important is that these attachments have been converted to shops so to speak and government is frowning at that. Going forward, we want buildings to remain buildings, if you have commercial building, it would serve that purpose, if you have residential buildings, let them serve that purpose. We expect those involved to take their time to do the needful and remove these stalls. After that, government would enforce compliance to ensure that buildings would be used for what they are meant for.”
