Lagos — In a bid to check the erection of structure in illegal places in the state, the Lagos State House of Assembly had taken the second reading of bill meant to provide for the administration of physical planning, urban development, urban regeneration and building control in the state.

Speaking on the bill, Chairman, House Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mufutau Egberongbe, clarified that the bill when passed into law would put in place an agency that would oversee the construction of physical structure, especially when it has to do with where to site an infrastructure and amenities.

While bolstering Egberongbe 's point, Chairman, House Committee on Youths, Sports and Social Development, Babatunde Ayeni, claimed that the bill ought to have come long before now.

He said: "This bill is coming too late before the House, had it been we have had this place before now, the issue of displacing people would not have come to being. The government is chasing people away from some places because they are not meant to be there.

"Some market places have been demolished due to the fact that they were erected in illegal positions, even many have been rendered homeless because they built their houses in wrong places. Now that this bill is coming to being, all these issue will be addressed ".

On his part, Wahab Alawiye-King, explained that the bill would also checkmate the issue of building collapse, which has become a reoccurrence in the state.

"This bill would also help in addressing the issue of building collapse as it would make the government to plan how buildings would be erected in different areas in the state, " Alawiye-King added.

The House, however, mandated the Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development to do a proper job on the bill by inviting every relevant stakeholder to make input before it is eventually passed into law.

The committee, which is expected to report back to the House in six weeks time, was also directed to give the bill a wide publicity by advertising its public hearing on both the electronic and print media.