Anambra state governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo on Friday marked out over 1, 000 shops for demolition at Ochanja Market, Onitsha.
Blueprint gathered that most of the marked buildings had structural defaults, including cracked walls and decking, felling pillars and sands, roads obstructions, among other challenges.
Soludo, who led a joint task force and professionals to monitor the various sections of the market, described the buildings as “illegal constructions with no extant approval from the government.”
The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr. Obinna Ngonadi, added that the administration has intention to decongest markets, as well as make them inhabitable to the International standard.
Also speaking, the chairman, Anambra state Physical Planning Board, Mr. Chike Maduekwe, gave the assurance that Anambra state Materials Testing Laboratory would visit all the markets to test the structural integrity of their buildings in order to find out those to be spared.
Speaking in separate interviews during the exercise, the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Ochanja Market, Mr Bonaventure Muo, his counterpart from Building Materials market (Ogidi), Mr. Jude Okonkwo and Mr. Adinu Onyechi of Building Materials 2 and 3 (Ogidi and Ogbunike), commended the governor for the move, assuring that they would support every government programme aimed at sanitising the markets.
