60 Rooms Storey Student Hostel Collapses In Bambili, Constructed Without A Permit

By Ignatius Nji

Tanjong Martin Mayor Tubah Council

It was no surprise following the carefree attitudes by investors with the complicity of some persons in high places that a 60 rooms’ storey students’ hostel collapsed on Sunday July 12 2015 just meters away from the University center in Bambili. The council has distance self from being part of this unfortunate situation given that the construction was done without any building permit and surely without following the norms of construction from the material used.

Reacting to this unfortunate situation which luckily only the investor stand to loose, given that students were yet to occupy the completed and ready for students’ hostel, the Mayor of Tubah Tanjong Martin said council workers dispatched to ensure that those concern regularize their situation with a building permit is issued, were being threatened and chased away with tools. The Governor and heads of other services related with town planning visited the area and the law would take its course.  When quizzed on the measures taken to ensure that such uncertified building projects do not continue to sprout in the municipality. The Mayor rather lamented that the procedure to get an uncertified building demolished is so cumbersome, time consuming and frustrating to Mayors. The law makers are challenged to ease procedures for councils to take decisions on issues within the municipality.

To avoid the situation around Molyko where the mayor is fighting to clear the area of crowded buildings given that it is another university center, Mayor Tanjong says any move within his competence would not relent no matter whose ox is goad. He reiterated that the clearing of building while opening up roads especially in the university center is done without the aid of the security. The first house that he demolished was that of his uncle meaning no body is spared there after somebody took him to court for demolishing part of his fence constructed on the road and it took over a year for courts to finally adjudicate on the matter.

Talking on the procedure to construct a house the mayor said normally after procuring a plot the owner seek the services of Town planning to ensure that the site is assessable by road there after soil testing is done to ensure that the type of structure could be constructed on the area. The council sent in the hygiene and sanitation team to see whether waste disposal facilities are considered in the plan thereafter 1% of the total some of building is paid to council and a building permit is issued. On the question whether he Mayor Tanjong Martin is still an SDF militant following the none respect of the party’s investiture in favour of another candidate for mayor in the 2013 municipal election which he won and asked to resign. He said, (I have never resigned from the only political party (SDF) that I have ever militated in. I was dismissed and I am still waiting but going about my duties and functions as Mayor of Tubah.”  Harping on his performance as Mayor since he took over Tubah council, Mayor Tanjong said only the beneficiary population of can better judge his performance whether it is positive or not. To him for a council to record sounding successes as is the case in Tubah in so short a time, the welfare of the workers like paying salaries on time should be priority.