Anambra State Government has sealed off the site of a collapsed three-storey building under construction at Otolo-Nnewi which claimed two lives.

The Chairman of the State Physical Planning Board, Barr Chike Maduekwe placed the seal today when he led a team comprising officials of the Board, the Anambra State Materials Testing Laboratory as well as security officials to the site.

The structure under construction which situates at Otolo-Nnewi in Nnewi North Council Area, collapsed Thursday night, resulting to the death of two persons and injuring many others.

The team on arrival, were conducted round the site, where they made observations and took critical notes on them.

Addressing newsmen, the Leader of the team and Chairman of the Board, Barr Maduekwe said the present administration in its bid to check incessant building collapses resulting in wanton loss of lives and property, had taken strategic steps which included setting up of the State Materials Testing Laboratory to ensure use of the prescribed materials for construction, strengthening of the Physical Planning Board among many others.

While stressing that the State Government will thoroughly investigate the incident to identify the remote causes, Mr Maduekwe called on developers to always seek approval from relevant agencies and endeavour to adhere to specifications during construction, assuring that the Board is being repositioned with the support of Governor Willie Obiano for greater efficiency.
On his part, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Materials Testing Laboratory, Engineer Michael Oraekie acknowledged that although a lot of issues may be responsible for the collapse, it will be preemptive to conclude now on the cause of the incident until the samples taken from the site are duly analysed.

It was gathered from reliable sources that while the developer had approvals for the building from the State Physical Planning Board, the approvals were obtained with a fake address.

This has in turn, made it difficult for the Board to get a hold on him or the site engineer, to answer to some key questions surrounding the tragedy.

As investigations continue on the issue, there is the hope that the incident will help check sharp practices in the building construction industry in the State by exposing syndicates that issue fake approvals and government officials complicit in the sharp practices.

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