The Lagos State government has sealed 19 petrol filling stations along Lekki-Epe expressway in Eti-Osa local council of the state.
The stations were sealed by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) for various offences including non-adherence to the state’s physical planning laws, no evidence of building permit, siting of the stations without recourse to approved distance from each other, building of the highly inflammable structures within residential areas and others.
Speaking on the move, the General Manager of the agency, Gbolahan Oki, said there was need to check indiscriminate siting and construction of petrol filling stations to prevent the attendant loss of lives and properties that comes from such practice.
Oki emphasised that the agency doesn’t grant operational licence to petrol filling stations. He, however, said the supervision of every stage of the construction of such stations from start to finish and the structural stability of the building after obtaining development permits from its sister agency, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, was part of the LASBCA’s responsibilities.
He stated that before the agency embarked on the enforcement for compliance drive, all the affected petrol stations were served contravention notices early this year, adding that efforts to prevail on the management of the affected stations to toe the line of due process and best practices in compliance with Lagos State Building Control Regulations proved abortive.
According to him, some of the affected stations were built on drainage channel, adding that the decision to seal the stations was taken after a thorough engineering appraisal and monitoring carried out by the agency.
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