Lagos govt revamps building permit approvals

The Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development on Monday promised to review planning permit processing time from 28 to 18 days and reduce lay-out approval process from 90 to 30 days.

Mr Mukaila Sanusi, Assistant Director Public Affairs of the ministry, said this was contained in a communiqué adopted from resolutions of an annual retreat of the ministry and its agencies.
He said the ministry and its agencies resolved to re-engineer their operating procedures to meet the 21st-century demands of the Lagos Megacity.

“Highlights of the forward-looking resolutions include the reduction of Planning Permit processing time from 28 to 18 days, reduction of the lay-out approval process from 90 to 30 days and the adoption of one stage approval for layout instead of the existing two stages,” Sanusi said in a statement.

He added that the staff agreed that the ministry and its agencies should redouble their efforts toward realising their mandates, especially in relation to the 21st century Lagos Economic goal.

“They resolved to enhance synergy between and among the agencies, particularly the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA) and the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA),” said Sanusi.

Sanusi quoted the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, as saying the resolutions were capable of delivering many advantages.

Salako enumerated the benefits to include “improved revenue, enhanced service delivery, reduction of bottlenecks in Planning Permit and Layout approvals as well as a drastic reduction in illegal building construction.”

He added that the resolutions would also ensure seamless attainment of an orderly and sustainable environment.

He urged the workforce to fulfill the content of the communiqué with a renewed commitment to providing needed solutions to the challenges in the system.