ABSTRACT
This study was basically carried out to examine the
effect of poor planning policies and practices on the development of Abraka
town. The study carefully identified the problems that necessitated this study.
The study discovered that poor physical planning has a negative effect on the
development of Abraka town. A total of 150 questionnaires were administered to
the respondents in Abraka town. The collated questionnaires were analyzed and
used to test the hypothesis formulated for this study. The result of the
hypothesis shows that housing development in Abraka is significantly influenced
by physical planning policies in the study area. The findings also shows that
there is significant relationship between the effect of poor planning policies
and practice on the development of Abraka. The study concluded that there is a
significant relationship between effective physical planning policies and the
level of development in Abraka. The study recommended that land developers
should be properly guided on the maintenance of urban land use through the use
of master plan and urban land use policies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
Studies
such as Agbola (2017), has shown that poor planning policies and practice has
an adverse effect on the development of Abraka town. In recent time, Abraka as
an urban center has been faced with poor physical planning and infrastructural
development. Planning policies in Abraka has been very poor due to none
implementation of urban land use act and master plan. This is because the
government of Delta State has neglected Abraka town in its planning processes.
It was not until recently that the Okowa administration began developing the region
in terms of road construction and rehabilitation (Fred, 2017).
The
administration of physical planning has been the responsibility of all the
tiers of government in Nigeria over the years (Agbola and Agbola, 2017). The
extent of involvement of each level of government is dictated by the operatives
of the various town and planning legislation as well as the nation’s
constitution, (Nwobodo, 2011). Towns like Port Harcourt, Aba, Minna, Jos and
Kaduna and Enugu have experienced extensive physical and infrastructural
developments. These developments have been under the application of early town
and country planning ordinance No. 29 of 1917, the 1959 town and country
planning ordinance, and the 1992 urban and Regional Planning law. The
applicability of these laws plus a reasonable increase in the number of town
planning authorities in metropolis and towns were all meant to re-enforce the
control of physical development in Nigerian cities and towns.
Planning
policies and urban planning are mostly used interchangeably. Urban planning is a technical and political
process concerned with the development and use of land, protection and use of the environment, public welfare, and the design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution
networks (Kristen, 2015)
As cities become the center piece of
contemporary development and as land become more scarce and inaccessible for
requisite developmental purposes, the quest to ration supply and control or
regulate its use, become more compelling. This is the rationale for the
involvement and enactment of various land use control laws and regulations
designed to safeguard, conserve, disburse and regulate the use of land in the
interest of the overall public interest (Agbola, 2017). Such laws include;
zoning regulations, building bye-laws; density control, land acquisition laws;
effluent discharge laws etc. the functions of evolving and enforcing land use
regulations development control, good/proper building practices and resolving
conflicting land interest ultimate goal is to achieve a healthy, conducive ,
satisfying and pleasing environment in which to pursue different kinds of human
activities.
However, a healthy, conducive and
satisfying environment may not evolve from human settlement unless there is
adequate provision for proper planning and development, monitoring and control
of housing units. The use of proper
planning to ensure good development can be eminent in many cities and towns
such that it promotes and gives room for adequate land allocation like good
road networks, well spaced building, schools, playground, churches, buildings
for social purposes e.g. Halls etc.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
estimated that five million deaths and another two or three million eases of
permanent disability could be prevented annually if proper planning of housing
conditions could meet a safe standard level. In most cases countries of the world,
proper planning policies and regulations of buildings represent a collection of
current and past wisdom on what constitutes a building in a vicinity that is
both safe and will not impair the health of occupants due to proper planning
policies (Fred, 2017).
Indiscriminate buildings and shops
(caravan) as taken its toll in the study area (Abraka), where these
buildings/caravan blocks part of the road or a drainage channel. Places such as
Ekrejeta, Ivie road, campus 4 road etc, to mention a few are characterized by
such obstruction. Although, roads are currently under construction with
drainage but this drainage are not well connected i.e No proper drainage
network, e.g (Winners road, Umono road, College road) and this will bring about
negative impact to development i.e flood, because of bad or no drainage
channel.
Radcliff (2016) said that the use of
the land has been identified as a function of virtually all forms of
production. Land is required for various uses in both the urban and local rural
areas of all society (Agbola, 2017). As
nations grow in size and rural areas become urban centers and urban centers
become large metropolitan areas, there is always increased competition as
demand for land for different purposes. This requires adequate planning and
control to ensure harmonious development and functional efficiency of their
uses and settlements (Mila, 2016).
It has been observed that poor
physical planning and lack of planning policies in Abraka has led to the
development of squatter and slum settlements in the interior part of the town.
It is against this background that this study is carried out the effect of poor
planning policies and practices on the development of Abraka town.