PROPERTY ARTICLES

THE Federal Government has commenced efforts aimed at articulating a National Physical Development Plan for Nigeria to span the period 2010 to 2030, which will optimise utilisation of land and natural resources for sustainable development.

The plan, being piloted by the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development will be expected to rationalise national spatial planning for economic efficiency and global competitiveness and promote balanced regional development for national unity.

The National Physical Development Plan will consist of clearly stated goals, objectives and programmes for economic, social and physical development of the country, a statement by the ministry issued at the weekend disclosed. It will also provide a framework for translating different socio-economic and sectoral objectives to spatial dimension, as well as ensuring equitable distribution of physical development amongst zones and states of Nigeria.

"The consensus of opinion amongst experts is that Nigeria has since independence in 1960 pursued its development agenda mainly through national economic planning, mixed with piece-meal physical planning. This approach has limited her success in the attainment of her development pursuit.

"Despite the huge financial resources derived from oil exploration the lack of a complimentary expression of economic plan in physical plans at apex levels has constrained the transformation of the country from an economy dependent on oil revenues to one which is diversified and largely industrialised.

"Now that new economic plans and agenda are being enunciated, the gap in national development planning process has been recognised, and is being addressed. The consensus amongst professionals in the sector - whether in academia, or in practice - is that the need for the preparation of a national Physical Development Plan is unassailable and inevitable. The pursuit of national development requires coordination and guidance of physical development efforts at all levels and sectors. The National Physical Development Plan (NPDP) is intended to fill the perceived gap and provide the framework for national physical planning," it said.

The NPDP will complement the socio-economic bias of existing efforts in national development planning. Economic targets of the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) and the goals of Vision 2020 will be translated into spatial terms in the NPDP. The Plan will also provide the coordinative platform for the various sectoral plans and policies and establish the much needed framework for the preparation of Structures and Local Plans.

The broad goal of the National Physical Development Plan is to achieve balanced and sustainable development of Nigeria through effective integration of economic and physical plans, equitable spread of development efforts and efficient investments in resources. The target is the establishment of an efficient, equitable and sustainable national spatial framework to guide the overall development of the country towards achieving developed nation status by 2020.

The Assistant Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Lawrence Ojabo said in the statement that the rationale for National Physical Development Plan is the need to bring order to the process of rapid urbanisation taking place in the country and ensure harmony in economic, social and physical development.

Already, a committee of experts headed by a Deputy Director in the Urban and Regional Department of the Ministry, Mr. R. S. Obadare has drawn-up a plan involving a series of roundtable and dialogue sessions with critical stakeholders like the National Planning Commission, Federal Ministry of finance, donor agencies, members of the National Assembly and consultants among others, for interaction to generate inputs into the National Physical Development Plan.

The series of meetings, which will start next week in Abuja with preparatory work, will bring together relevant professionals, experts, opinion leaders and policy makers drawn from across the country

As a prelude to the preparation of the first ever NPDP, a round of sensitization campaigns is being put together. The campaign is designed to build consensus and solicit the engagement and mutual ownership of the process and product by all categories of stakeholders. The first round of the Sensitization Campaigns is designed specially to debrief stakeholder groups and elicit their contribution. It will be followed by cross cutting dialogue sessions aimed at consolidating the consensus.

A consortium of firms will thereafter be contracted to prepare the first ever National Physical Development Plan (2010-2030) through an international competitive bid process.