Enugu State Government, on Thursday, decried what it called worrisome activities of some developers parading fraudulent approvals.
Executive Chairman of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, ECTDA, Mr Uche Anya disclosed this while briefing journalists.
He said such fraudulent approvals have been withdrawn, vowing that the government would never succumb to blackmail.
Anya said, “it is very disheartening that in spite of all we have done, we are still facing challenges in our development control, we have some unscrupulous developers who call themselves investors, sabotaging our master plan, corrupting the system.
“We have instances where people secured approvals using the Certificate of Occupancy, C of O of a different area and passed it on for a property in another location.”
He cited a particular outfit operating in Independence Layout, a night club, which he said has a land title of a property in GRA but passed it on for another property in Independence Layout
“On top of that, they went out of their way and built things not approved.
“We have a similar instance opposite Fire Service, you will see a huge building that we don’t know what to make of it, whether to call it a hotel or complex or whatsoever, in variance to what was approved.
“Then you go to the bank of Ekulu River, people who have jettisoned even the setback they signed up for and they are parading fake approvals, distorting our place, threatening our bridges, we cannot afford to have another collapsed bridge in Enugu. We must save Trans Ekulu Bridge at all costs.
“So we want to tell the world that we are not afraid of doing the right thing.
“We have withdrawn all the approvals that were fraudulently obtained and we intend to ensure that Enugu State, as much as we would do everything to encourage investors, will not allow unscrupulous people to violate our laws and end up blackmailing government officials.
“How on earth did someone get approval for a night club in Independence Layout using title documents of GRA?” Anya queried.
“All the people that have approval for one property and end up building up everywhere, we are also withdrawing such approvals.
“We need the world to understand that Enugu is a city of law and order and all our investment drives remain in front burner. All genuine investors have nothing to fear but those who want to corrupt the system have everything to worry about,” he added.
The ECTDA boss assured all genuine investors that Enugu State is open for investments.
He said, “we welcome people that want to make Enugu their preferred home. Enugu is home for all and this is what this administration is committed to.
“Our 30 billion dollars investment drive for Enugu State is not a joke, and you can see that Governor Peter Mbah’s administration is not joking about it.
“You can see the massive infrastructural investment going on in all the places, you can see that we have paid attention to ease of doing business, the taxation system has been harmonized, this administration has zero tolerance for double taxation.
“You can see that E-government has taken firm root. For instance, we have eliminated corruption from our system of doing business.
“In line with our ease of doing business, our land department is totally reformed, we can assure you that C of O in Enugu can be obtained within 72 hours if all your documentations are in order
“We also make it easy for every development approval to be processed and issued within 5 working days.”
Illegal development: ‘We have withdrawn all fraudulent approvals’ – Enugu govt