Screenshot
The Delta State Government has again warned that property developers who flout existing building regulations in the state would be punished accordingly.
The warning was handed down by Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Renewal, Hon. Sunday Tataobuzogwu, during a development control exercise by the ministry on Monday, 16 and Tuesday, March 17, 2026 in various parts of Asaba, Okpanam and Ibusa.
The Commissioner said it is no longer ‘business as usual’ under his watch, and that as the Governor’s eye in the sector, he would ensure sustained urban renewal as envisioned by the state government for the effective realization of the M.O.R.E. Agenda.
Tataobuzogwu was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. (Mrs.) Charity Ehimen and others such as the Development Control Unit, Pre-Physical Planning Unit and Staff of the Ministry. The Commissioner’s aides also assisted in monitoring the exercise together with town planners who were actively involved in the development control exercise.
In Asaba, the state capital, the first point of call was the Summit Junction, Umuadaukwu in Ibusa where the developer of a warehouse under construction in the area was asked to stop work for failing to have a building plan on site. The Ministry’s hammer also fell on a developer who is building on a ‘Right of Way,’ and another gigantic structure in Aboh-Ogwashi which does not have approved building documents.
The team also stormed a three storeyed hotel building behind Christian group Medical in Okpanam, as well as a petrol filling station and a two Storey building behind the Asaba Airport it which is being constructed by a developer.
The Ministry visited various parts of Okpanam to inspect building sites and serve notices to erring developers, some of whom had their building sites sealed or asked to stop work.
At various places visited, the Ministry’s officials served defaulters with notices to verify their building plans, sealed the building sites or served them with a ‘stop work’ order. It was discovered that in many places, there were no building plans on site, which was a clear violation of the Delta State building regulations, while a number of developers were guilty of alteration of building plans, over-building, inadequate setbacks, and encroachment on the road, among other infractions.
Tataobuzogwu said the exercise was to send a clear signal to erring developers that there is no hiding place for them, while directing that they should come forward to remedy the observed infractions against the building regulations of the State. Such erring developers were directed to report to the Delta State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Renewal, 1st floor, Cluster B, Prof. Chike Edozien Secretariat, Asaba, armed with their building plans and other documentation.
The Ministry warned that developers who continued to work without remedying the infractions would be severely dealt with, saying that the development control exercise would be continuous for sustained urban renewal across Delta State.
