Adewale Sanyaolu
To address rising incidence of gas explosions and its attendant consequences, the Lagos State Government has banned the siting of gas and fuel stations in densely populated areas.
This was even as it announced plans to clamp down on all illegal Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), popularly called cooking gas facilities across the state.
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako, Salako, who handed down the warning during a meeting with District Officers and Supervisory Directors at the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority( LASPPPA) headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos, warned that the Government has declared zero tolerance to the siting of gas and petrol filling stations in densely populated areas.
He said that it had become expedient to discourage the propensity to establish gas and petrol stations indiscriminately in densely populated residential neighborhoods across the state in order to safeguard lives and properties of the citizens, while maintaining the sanctity of the built environment.
He disclosed that only 17 gas filing stations had planning permit, vowing that all illegally built outlets as well as those operating in densely populated residential areas would be sealed off to avert further mishaps.
Salako said his Ministry would work with other agencies including the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Lagos State Safety Commission, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Petroleum Resources to safely decomission any sealed gas/petrol filling station.
He urged District Officers and Supervisory Directors to be alive to their responsibility and uphold the standard operating procedures of the Ministry, while warning that erring officers would be punished in line with the Public Service Rules.
The Commissioner averred that in continuation of efforts to sanitise the built environment, breakers of Government enforcement seals as well as owners of collapsed buildings would be prosecuted in line with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law 2019.