-Ucheoma tells Town Planners
By INNOCENT Igwe
Town Planners and other professionals involved in physical development in Imo State have been enjoined to preserve the integrity, beauty and noble heritage of the Owerri Master Plan.
The Managing Director of the Imo State Housing Corporation,(ISHC), Barrister Raymond Ucheoma,FNITP, who was speaking,when the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners,Imo state Chapter and his Executive members paid him a courtesy visit, said the Owerri Master Plan is not only an exemplary heritage but also a monumental gift to the “Built Environment” that should neither be lost nor violated, for whatever reason.
He said Town Planners have struggled with other interest groups to protect it as the ideal framework for physical development in the Owerri capital territory and should always resist attempts to tamper or destroy this heritage.
Barrister Ucheoma,a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, explained the uniqueness of the Owerri Master Plan, which has lasted over 40years,as a successful attempt to combine developments in both the Old and New Owerri, as a Twin City,:preserving the special attributes of the old city while encouraging expansive modernization in the new, something that has attracted the interests of many across the country.
He said,Town Planners should be appreciated for their initiatives and efforts in sustaining the Master Plan for over 40years but called for their continued vigilance in order to check substandard practice and ward off infractions in the provision of development projects, as the people look up to them for the maintenance of a liveable Owerri capital city.
Barr Ucheoma,urged the Institute to Thank Governor Uzodimma for insisting that a professional, Heads, the Imo State Housing Corporation and also appealed to the Institute to join hands with the Corporation to find solution to the issue of VERY HIGH RENTS, in Owerri,in order to make housing accommodation more affordable to the people.
He said the housing deficit in Owerri is greater than what is observed and managed but could be better if more houses are made available by encouraging more people to take interest in building their own houses by rolling out the enabling policies.
The MD, assured the Planners, that the Corporation,under his watch will continue to ensure strict enforcement of professional standards in the housing sector in synergy with the Nigerian Institute of Architects and Nigerian Institution of Surveyors,among other bodies.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners,Imo State, Chapter,TPL Austin Ugoh Ukanwa,FNITP, hailed the corporation as a major player in the overall mandate of upholding the provision of the Owerri Master Plan and other Master Plans across the state,in the dispensation of its functions and expressed sadness that majority of estate developments in the State is substandard as the proprietors engage quacks,who end up producing plans bereft of standard infrastructure, amenities and other facilities, which copiously violate the master plan and urged the corporation to blacklist such entities.
Ukanwa said that the Institute looks forward to partnering with the Housing corporation to bridge the debilitating effect of housing deficit in Imo State, and sued for policies that would improve housing supply for various land uses, particularly for artisans,who now spring up indiscriminately within residential areas,in a chaotic manner.
Present at the elaborate Courtesy call,were all the Executive members of the Institute and Management of the Imo state Housing corporation.
