Adamawa: non-respect of building laws causing floods

The non-respect of laws regulating the urban system and the haphazard construction of houses in the Adamawa region is considered a root cause of constant flooding in the region.

It is for this reason that the Minister of Housing and Urban Development is training and educating the local authorities on the need to follow construction laws and shun the illegal occupation of land. This two-day training started on February 25 in Ngoundere.

“We really did lack knowledge on how to develop our city and more on how to make a new neighborhood in the town. Sometimes I really see the disorganization in Adamawa but often I do not know where and how to start. Floods every now and then, houses built on wrong sites and more. I am really happy with this training offered to us by the Minister of housing and urban development. I am very sure after this training, I will draft a city plan on how to start getting rid of houses built on wrong sites,” the Mayor of Ngenha, Mohammadou Awalou said.

“The Prime Minister asked us to make sure that all Mayors are trained on this new urban development strategy that is being taught and to support them so they can be able to put the training into action. Adamawa is a beautiful place but often when I visit, I see a lot of careless buildings and too much disorganization. I pray after this training, the Mayors will impact their communities positively. Sometimes it is because of lack of respect of building norms that disasters occur. We do not intend to stop this training exercise. We will move to other regions and carry on with the same training until the people are organized,” the Minister of housing and urban development, Celestine Ketcha Courtes declared.

“It is a great initiative as Cameroon is gradually growing bigger and more developed. It is a necessity that all towns and villages be put in order starting from the organisation of houses to avoid natural disasters. We are all here to learn more and put the knowledge into our towns and villages. We know this will affect so many households and families as we will have to start a demolition exercise but we will equally make sure we inform victims long before the exercise so they get ready,” the Mayor of the Mayo division said.

It is hoped that Mayors will be more involved in building strong and more resilient organised cities following this training.