AN ASSESSMENT OF LAND
USE AND ALLOCATION PROCEDURE IN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT (A CASE STUDY OF UYO LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AREA)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
There is bound to be conflict over land
use. The demands for arable land, grazing, forestry, wildlife, tourism and
property development are greater than the land resources available (Ratcliff,
1999). In the developing countries including Nigeria, these demands become more
pressing every year. The population dependent on the land for food, fuel and
employment will double within the next 25 to 50 years. Even where land is still
plentiful, many people may have inadequate access to land or to the benefits
from its use especially for property development. Land must change to meet new demands yet
change brings new conflicts between competing uses of the land and between the
interests of individual land users and the common good.
Land is a private property, its ownership and use
is protected by the constitution (Farmer and Gibb, 1979). It is the free gift
of nature to mankind. Every activity of man as of necessity takes place on land
and as a result of increased activities there arose conflicts in different land
uses. One land use tends to succeed another, where this is no control of such
succession and use. Ratcliff (1999) states that succession of land use for its
own sake is hardly desirable and change in advance of the appropriate time will
only contribute to the inefficiency of the urban structure. He also argued that
there are times when succession appear to lag behind the needs of the
community, when actually, the fundamental factors that call for a readjustment
of land uses are not present. Thus, the need for spatial ordering of land use
with a view to creating functionally efficient and aesthetically pleasing
environment for living, circulation and recreation, becomes imperative.
The creation of a balanced land use system (urban
equilibrium), that is, the provision of adequate land for the various land
uses, consistent with the creation of functionally efficient physical
environment, is the objective of the land use allocation. Land use allocation
is to ensure the best utilization of land in the national interest, and to
prevent individual land owners from using that land to the detriment of body
politic (Lawal, 2000). There has been several concern in the recent times as to
the procedure involves in the allocation of land for property development. It
ranges from the high cost to the fraudulent activities attached to land for
property development.
This is inspite of their common law right to
develop their land, as they like, provided they do not cause any nuisance or
interfere with the rights of others. Land use allocation necessarily has to do
with the siting of buildings and communication routes with objectives of
achieving equilibrium between convenience, beauty and cost. According to
Nwanekezie (2009), land use allocation determines where residential buildings
and even new industries should be located, how raw materials can be transported
to them, and their products distributed to market, where the employees should
live, how they would get to work, where schools and other institutions should
be situated.
The basic principle of allocation is that adequate
land should be set aside for each uses at the onset in appropriate locations
pending the time they will be needed and or funds will be available for their
provision or development. This is because it takes at least ten to twenty years
to fully develop a residential neighborhood for instance, and it is not
possible to provide at the initial stage of development all the facilities and
services proposed in a layout plan even if money is not a constraint. Their
provision of development is normally spread over time to keep peace with the development
states of the neighbourhood.
1.2 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Most cities in Nigeria and other developing
countries were not planned (Nwanekezie, 2009). They started as villages or
trade centres before increasing in size to a big city today. Such process of
city growth has been marked with haphazard development, poor planning, urban
sprawl and environmental degradation. Business districts often spill over into
the surrounding residential and industrial areas. The variety of growth and
changing pattern of land use found in different cities complicate the process
of identifying simple principles that govern the allocation of land uses.
Barlower (1978) states that urban land use
allocation has been designed to promote the orderly development of the nations
land resources, minimize certain problems and conflict associated with private
use, foster the optimum development of the land resource base and maximize the
public welfare. However, the major concern in this study is to assess the land
use and allocation procedure for property development in Uyo Local Government
Area.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
assess the procedure of land use allocation for property development in Uyo
local government area.
2. To
determine the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo
local government area.
3. To
identify the factors militating against land use allocation procedure in Uyo
local government area
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
is the procedure involved in land use allocation for property development in
Uyo local government area?
2. What
is the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo local
government area?
3. What
are the factors militating against land use allocation procedure in Uyo local government
area?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. The
outcome of this study will educate the general public on the essence of land
use allocation and as well enlighten them on the effectiveness of the procedure
to facilitate convenient property development process.
2. This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study will cover the procedure of land use allocation for property development
in Uyo local government area.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently
will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Barlowe, R. (1978). Land
resources economic: The economics of real estate. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Farmer, W.P. and Gibb J.A. (1979).
Land use planning in Cataness. New York: McGraw – Hill Inc.
Lawal, M.I. (2000). Estate
development practice in Nigeria. Lagos: ILCO Books & Publishers.
Nwanekezie, O.F. (2009).
Achieving urban equilibrium using efficient urban land use allocation.
Unpublished manuscript. Abia State University, Uturu.
Ratcliff, J. (1999). Urban land
economics. Londong: Macmillan Press.