The final draft of a 20-year
Ibadan city master plan aimed at tackling flooding, as well as charting a new
direction for the city has been presented to the Governor of Oyo State, Senator
Abiola Ajimobi.
The detailed master plan is
expected to be submitted by September. The Ibadan drainage and solid waste
master plans are aimed at enhancing infrastructural development and future
expansion of Ibadan.
A statement made available to
journalists Sunday evening by the Communications office of the Governor stated
that the governor received the draft document from the representatives of
Design and Architecture Bureau Consulting Engineers, led by the Project Manager,
Mr Yann Leclerq, at the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, on Friday.
The Ibadan City master plan,
which covers the original 11 Local Government Areas of Ibadanland, examined the
state’s natural environment, history of flooding, transport, infrastructure, housing,
population among others.
The statement added that Leclerq
informed that the draft master plan reflected the immediate and future needs of
citizens of the city, whom he said were among the stakeholders that were
engaged during the process.
According to him, the development
of a master plan was inspired by the August 2011 flooding in Ibadan and those
before then, which, he said, were triggered by several natural and human
factors.
Particularly, he listed
deforestation, development on flood plain, clogging of water surface, informal
settlements, dumping in water channels among several human factors responsible
for flooding in the city.
“This master plan will provide sound planning frameworks and foundations to attract investment for existing and new business growth. It will prevent flooding episodes for existing and future development areas.
“We are also confident that it will improve and expand the city’s transport network. It will aid plans for and accommodate the future population growth. It will also enhance the quality of life for existing and future residents.
“Part of the objectives is to use this plan to establish the basis for the provision of adequate infrastructure capable of meeting the need of the population”, he said.
The project manager added that
Friday’s presentation was aimed at aggregating and incorporating the comments
of state executive council and critical stakeholders, leading to the
presentation of a detailed plan in September.
Ajimobi in his response said that
lack of a master plan contributed to the vulnerability of the city leading to
natural disasters, such as the flooding witnessed on August 26, 2011.
Instead of emphasizing only mass
transit system of transportation as contained in the draft document, Ajimobi
tasked the consultants to incorporate intra and inter-city rail system into the
final document to take advantage of the existing Lagos-Ibadan rail line.
“I will also want you to
incorporate how the state can cope with the existing structures and
settlements. It will give us legitimacy to remove illegal structures on flood
plains. I know the implementation may pose challenges, but let us see.
“In making recommendations on
street trading, emphasis should be on enforcement. But, at the same time, you
have to take into consideration our culture and peculiarities. For instance,
can we have trading axis, neighbourhood markets and the rest.
“You have listened to the
observations and contributions of the members of the executive council. Please,
work on these so that we may have a robust master plan that will ensure
coordinated physical growth, improved socio-economic development and enhanced living
standards of residents.
“More importantly, this will make
the city resilient to stress and responsive to natural disasters, especially
flooding in the future”, he stated.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete