LASG begins clampdown on illegal tank farms next week

By Dada Jackson

The Lagos State Government has said that it will next week commence physical planning enforcement on all tank farms illegally operating in the state.

The declaration was made by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, during a meeting in his office in Alausa.

He expressed displeasure at the unapproved and illegal operations of many tank farms in the state, saying that no such facility should operate without planning permit.

Salako decried the indiscriminate operations of tank farms, which had negatively impacted the host communities and rendered residents helpless.

He said, “In most cases, the road capacity is inadequate for the activities of the tank farms whose operations have led to the collapse of road infrastructure, rendered critical social amenities such as school and hospital inaccessible and created urban squalors  of the host communities”

Salako stated that the deliberate neglect of host communities by tank farms operating in the state, despite government overtures, was regrettable, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that most of the outfits creating the problems were not only unapproved but also not paying taxes to the government.

Recall that the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban had met with tank farm operators earlier in the year and gave a week ultimatum for them to regularise their facilities, which was followed by an additional two-week ultimatum, a month after the first ultimatum.

The physical planning commissioner maintained that there was no going back on the plan to start enforcing the extant physical planning laws on all erring tank farms as from next week since the ultimatums given had lapsed.