Worried by the incessant building collapse in the state and the danger it poses to lives, the Rivers State government has resolved to set up a taskforce to check the menace.
The state commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Rt. Hon. Evans Bipi, disclosed this during an inspection of another collapsed three-storey building under construction at the Abacha Road axis of GRA, Port-Harcourt.
However, no life was lost in the latest building collapse which occurred on Friday. It came barely four days after a similar incident occurred in Ogbogoro Community of Obio-Akpor local government area of the state, which claimed one life and severely injured two persons.
Bipi said the taskforce would monitor all development sites in the state to ensure that developers strictly comply with the building laws and regulations of the state to prevent further building collapse.
He accused the developer of gross violation of the government-approved building plan by using substandard materials to raise a three-storey building in a waterlogged area.
The commissioner warned of tougher penalties against defaulters of the physical planning development law of the state to serve as deterrent.
Bipi explained that by enforcing severe penalties the government aimed to promote adherence to the law and prevent further building collapse in the state.
Also speaking, the commissioner for special duties, Dr. Samuel Eyiba, who accompanied the commissioner on inspection of the collapsed building, said the state government may be considering enacting a legal framework that would seek to imprison defaulting engineers with an option of a heavy fine.
Eyiba said this would deter both engineers and developers from cutting corners or using substandard materials and endangering the lives of innocent construction workers.
The permanent secretary in the ministry, Surveyor Wisdom Hebron, said the recurring issue of developers cutting costs by using substandard materials which is responsible for the spate of building collapse was worrisome.
