Kaduna needs new layouts – Surveyor

Is the proliferation of new structures all over Kaduna metropolis a sign of growth and development?Because of its strategic location and former capital of the defunct Northern region, coupled with its proximity to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kaduna has become a centre of major commercial activities in the North. Kaduna has expanded very rapidly […]

Is the proliferation of new structures all over Kaduna metropolis a sign of growth and development?
Because of its strategic location and former capital of the defunct Northern region, coupled with its proximity to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kaduna has become a centre of major commercial activities in the North. Kaduna has expanded very rapidly and you will agree with me that within Kaduna metropolis, there is what I can call invasion in the land use because areas that had been designated as residential have been taken over by commercial activities. All these are indications of economic growth and development.
However, my view is that they’re supposed to be a regulatory body in the state like Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Authority (KASUPDA) which is supposed to protect building development within the urban centres or cities within the state. KASUPDA, unfortunately, is handicapped for obvious reasons, mainly because of the inadequate number of staff to properly enforce the development laws. This is one of the many factors, including lack of equipment with which to work that is making them not to be able to discharge their responsibilities. The consequence of this ugly situation is that everybody is doing whatever he or she likes. That is also responsible for the springing up of unauthorized shops and structures in every nook and cranny in Kaduna metropolis.
Another factor, if I may add, is that the investment climate within the city centre appears to be the only one that is lucrative and people are assured of their returns and that leads to the construction of more shops. This is why you see politicians embark on massive construction of shops instead of building residential houses and setting up small scale industries. They construct shops and kiosks so that they can be guaranteed of certain income when they leave office. So this is what is compounding the development issue in Kaduna city centre. You know, politics is the only business flourishing presently in the country.
Do you think the construction of these shops and kiosks has affected the Kaduna master plan?
Absolutely, Kaduna master plan has been distorted. I could remember during the tenure of the former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi between 2005 and 2006, the governor foresaw the problem of development that was imminent, so he set up a committee that should advise the government on the proliferation of corner shops in Kaduna metropolis. I was a member of that committee and the committee did a comprehensive work and submitted the report to the government. But to the chagrin of the members of the committee, to what extent government has implemented the report, we don’t know, however, I want to say that the way corner shops are springing up in Kaduna city centre is alarming as they are responsible, to some extent, to the ugly traffic situation in Kaduna down. Corner shops attract both buying and selling activities as people go there for business, so the free movement of person and vehicles are affected due to the congestion. Let me tell you that a town is like a human being. A human being has blood vessels and if what somebody eats is not checked, it could prevent the blood from flowing properly, example, if the roads linking every part of the town are blocked or what we call uncontrolled traffic, the whole place would be choked up and therefore there will be traffic congestion.
There are things that the government can do to decongest traffic situation in Kaduna metropolis and other urban towns in the state. I heard in a media report recently, where a lawmaker in the state was appealing to the state government to construct more roads to link southern and northern part of the state capital. Let me add here that, that is not the only solution. A more pragmatic solution to the problem is for the state government to decongest the centre of Kaduna metropolis. How can they decongest Kaduna city centre? Government is the provider of land for development. It is the responsibility of the state government to provide layouts. Different layouts should be provided within the metropolis, at the same time if the government, which is the sole provider of land, fails to provide these layouts, it therefore means that people would look for other ways to get land for themselves. Government is busy carving out plots instead of providing layouts. That way, for example, you see that an area which is meant for 50 people to live is being inhabited by over 100 people. So, would you expect in such an area?
For more than a decade now, Kaduna State government has not provided a single layout within Kaduna metropolis. This situation has given birth to a new problem. That situation has made land management in the outskirts of Kaduna metropolis more problematic to the government. Individuals and community heads have constituted themselves as planning authorities and are busy creating layouts which the government said are illegal. They are doing this because there is dire need for land for people to build houses and the town is yearning for expansion but the government is not doing anything to facilitate the expansion and so individuals have now taken it upon themselves to provide layouts.
When I went to the state’s Ministry of Lands, Surveys and Country Planning sometime ago, I was told that there are 150 illegal layouts in Kaduna. What this mean is that the government should have carved out at least 150 layouts for proper development to take place in Kaduna. But the dangerous aspect in creating illegal layouts is the fact that the government is not benefiting anything from those layouts in the near or distance future because owners of the plots in the illegal layouts would not pay ground rent because they don’t have Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) and therefore government would continue to lose revenue from landed property.