Lagos must encourage multi-storey car parks —Oyedele

Due to the huge car traffic in the metropolis, Femi Oyedele, a property surveyor and appraiser, wants the Lagos State government to encourage multi-storey car parks in areas with illegal parking of vehicles. setback vehicles is common. Reporting by Dayo Ayeyemi.

What is your reaction to the start of collection of fees for cars parked outside the perimeter fence of buildings and businesses by the Lagos State Government?

The government is a group of people to whom we entrust the development and implementation of policies in our community.

One of the regulations of our actions by the government is through planning laws. The government approves the construction plan, maps our communities and decides where we should use them as residences, roads, industries, schools, hospitals, markets, parking lots, etc.

The government is also responsible for determining, monitoring and reviewing the ratio of built-up area to land area in a community to determine area density.

One way to control the density of an area and make provision for future road expansion, or to create walkways, is to provide a setback between the edge of the road and the perimeter fence .

This space can be created for the passage of a telephone cable or a water pipe. They cannot and never are created for parking lots. Setbacks between roads and perimeter fences are never reserved for use as parking lots.

A real estate developer must be proactive enough to design their property – residential, industrial, commercial, office, hotel, etc. - so that all user cars can be parked inside the property. When a landlord has made a mistake and decides to use the space set aside for gardening, park, aeration, lighting, tree planting or walkway as parking, the government has two options. /p>

One option is to ask violators of planning laws to leave the illegally used lot(s), to ask the violators to pay a fine.

Lagos State Government, in its magnanimity, has called on violators of its planning laws, who have probably overdeveloped their land compared to the approved ratio and now have inadequate parking lots, or do not have well planned the use of their sites to accommodate all vehicles that will visit the property or have changed the use of the property from residential to commercial or from residential to office or residential to school and now require outdoor spaces for parking, to pay a fee of N80,000.00 per lot or vacate the space.

The levy or fine is not a mandatory tax anywhere in the world.

They are generally responsible for curbing the prosecution or reducing the perpetuation of the use or commission of a crime.

Any violator of the setback rules who does not want to pay the fine must leave the setback of the government and return to their premises, which is even safer.

Heritage House on Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, has purchased a building on Bayo Kuku Street, Ikoyi, which has been converted into a parking lot for property users instead of allowing illegal parking on the sides of the road.

Addax Mall on Lateef Jakande Road by 8/10 Hakeem Balogun Street, Agidingbi-Alausa also purchased an entire house which was demolished for use as a parking lot at 4 Hakeem Balogun Street, Agidingbi-Alausa. Zenith Bank Head Office on Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island has purchased an entire property which it has redeveloped into a multi-storey car park on Molade Okoya-Thomas Street, Off Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island.

Will this measure really reduce traffic jams in the metropolis?

While the government does not collect fees for using the margins, other users who wish to set up kiosks on the margins also have the right to do so. The levy is a fine to discourage abuse.

Yes, this will reduce traffic in areas where there is serious abuse of the setback rules. Some offenders will not mind paying the fee and will cause the roads to be congested.

We would still have slow traffic, but it will be better than when the levies weren't collected and we had traffic jams.

How to best handle the situation?

The best way for the government to handle the situation is to encourage multi-storey car parks in areas where illegal parking of setback vehicles is commonplace. These vehicles parked on setbacks can cause traffic accidents as they block the view of incoming vehicles and criminals can hide between the vehicles to carry out their criminal acts. If not marked off, the set-back parking will be a nuisance because where permitted, local boys usually come to collect money daily. The daily illegal parking charge of N500 per day is over N80,000 per year. Mechanics can also use setbacks to repair vehicles.

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