The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, has urged Town Planning Officers posted to various MDAs to play their role in ensuring adherence to Physical Development Plans in project implementation.
He said that physical planning was the bedrock of any meaningful development and should be so respected by all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies( MDAs) of government drawing their projects from the provisions of the Master and Model City Plans.
The Commissioner gave the warning in Ikeja during an interactive meeting with Town Planning Officers serving in various MDAs.
He added that posting of Town Planning Officers to strategic MDAs such as Ministries of Transportation, Housing, Agriculture and Waterfront Infrastructure Development as well as the Lands Bureau and Lagos Resilience Office among others was a deliberate policy to ensure that impactful projects were executed in tandem with the provisions of the Operative Development Plans of the State.
“No state or city can have meaningful, orderly, and sustainable development by default but through planning, the responsibility for which has been vested in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development”, he said.
While urging the Planning Officers to make their impacts felt in their respective postings by providing the needed professional services and guidance, he said that the ministry would not relent in its efforts of providing the enabling environment for better performance.
He expressed confidence that the interactive session, which would now hold every month to review activities and compare notes, would go a long way in repositioning physical planning in allied MDAs.
