The Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has recommended automation of activities of the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development owing to the perennial administrative bottle-neck in the ministry.
The president of the institution, Emma Oka Wiki in an interview with our reporter said, this, will put an end to ambiguities and enhances interface between estate developers and land owners.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike
The NIESV boss, also explained that making payment online will reduce corruption and bring sanity in the process of acquiring land.
“There would be an interface between those who are into real estate development and the officers. This will reduce corruption”, he stated.
He further explained that it is going to help reduce the timing that people waste to get their land approved because everything would be done online, adding that you can stay in the comfort of your home and apply for your building plan permit, and get needed approval.
“It is going to encourage development, because some of the bottle necks that people face in the process of their building plan approval will no longer be there, because you have an easy access through the internet and through automation of the system” he further stated.
Wiki advised Rivers State Government to eliminate what is know as matching ground fee in the big sector as a way of sanitizing the sector.
“When you have gotten to the process where your building plan has been approved, what it means is that you have settled with the government. Now if there is any other relationship between the developer and the community, that will not be there in the system”
” There are areas that when you buy, you have to settle the community. And if you are able to do that in the beginning, once you follow this automated process, you don’t need to go back to the community again”
He urged the Urban and Regional planners to try as much as possible to work with the original land owners, so that whatever is due to that particular people, they should be able to include it and make sure the land owners get whatever thing that is due to them, so that they will not encounter any other problems.
