PROPERTY ARTICLES

Land and property management experts have said that for Lagos to truly fulfil its potential as a mega city, the housing problem confronting the citizens must be effectively tackled through a combination of factors.

They listed those factors to include facilitation of easier access to land, finance for development and convenient mortgage arrangement for buyers of housing units.

These were the highlights of the discussions at the 2009 Lagos International Housing Conference, hosted by the Lagos State Branch of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, which took place in Ikeja on Thursday and Friday.

Experts have also identified the acute shortage of decent housing accommodation as a major problem for the majority of the estimated 17 million residents of Lagos State, with some positing that in order to meet the growing demand, about 100,000 housing units are required every year.

In a presentation on, "Effective Housing Delivery in a Mega City Development," a notable real estate developer and Managing Director, BTech, Mr. Stephen Mayaki, said that the combined contributions of the state and Federal Government housing development agencies, the organised private sector had yielded few housing units, which were mainly targeted at the upper-medium income bracket.

He blamed the situation on low income of the average worker, expensive building materials, low budgetary allocation for housing, complete neglect of the urban poor, restrictive access to land, cumbersome and expensive land transaction process.

Other factors why housing has eluded most Lagos residents, according to him, include dearth of quality construction companies, dearth of long term finance, shortage of qualified and experienced tradesmen, corruption, preference for imported building materials over locally available ones, lax development control, and inadequate municipal infrastructure such as roads, water, power and drainage.

Mayaki, a former Managing Director of UACN Property Development Company Plc, recommended that the way forward for Lagos and other urban cities approaching the mega city status was to formulate a clear policy declaration that every citizen was entitled to satisfactory dwelling at a price or rent they could afford.

He also canvassed a mortgage finance system to assist those who wished to own their homes as well as cost-cutting measure through the use of locally available building materials.

He also urged the government to strengthen the large-scale construction companies by using them for big housing projects and revive the technical colleges for the production of more artisans and tradesmen as well as facilitate improved access to land and simplify and reduce land transaction charges.

In a paper titled, "The Public-Private Partnership in Mega City Development and the Roles of the Built Environment Professionals," the 1st Vice-President, NIESV, Mr. Bode Adediji, said that if serious attention was not paid to the implementation of the Lagos mega city as a solution to the myriad of urban problems confronting it, the sustainability of the city and the state in general would be jeopardised.

He said that because Nigeria was at the lower end of the PPP learning curve, there was a need to benchmark the best practices in terms of packaging, concessionaire selection criteria, evaluation of tenders, negotiations, project execution and monitoring, and necessary legal framework.

Adediji said that the rolling out of a project to develop Lagos into a mega city would generate tremendous opportunities for all categories of professionals in the built environment.

He said, "Apart from the instructions and briefs expected from the government agencies for executing the projects in all its ramifications, private companies, organisations and individuals would equally respond to undertaking various housing and property development projects requiring the services of the professionals."

A town planner, Mr. S. O. Adegoke, in a paper on, "Emerging Mega City and the Challenges of Inclusive Housing Finance and Delivery," said that there was a need for innovative and an all-inclusive housing finance mechanism that meet the unusual needs and requirements of the underserved that were not captured by the present system.

To do this effectively, he said that housing finance strategies that would enhance access, guarantee mortgage affordability and deepen penetration, and at the same time protect mortgage providers would have to be pursued.

Such strategies include the establishment of uncollateralised mortgage facilities, enhance inclusive mortgage lending through borrower-friendly terms such as low interest rates, removal of down payment, higher income to loan ratio and longer tenor of up to 60 years; and enhancing mortgage penetration and affordability through mortgage protection policy by the insurance industry to ensure lending to the underserved and protect mortgage providers to guarantee continued repayment in case of incapacitation of beneficiaries.

Using the development of Johannesburg as a mega city as an example, the South Africa-based Chief Executive Officer, Liberty Properties, Mr. Samuel Ogbu, said that if Johannesburg, with a population of 3.4 million people could become the leading city in Africa, Lagos, with a population of about 17 million, should be able to develop into a truly and functional mega city.

He said that there were immense but untapped tourism opportunities in Lagos, which should be explored, noting that gold was the major contributor to the South African economy before tourism took over with over 98 per cent contribution.

In a keynote address, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Chuka Odom, said that the growth of mega cities around major cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano and Abuja would serve as a catalyst for their development, but noted that increase in human population and the attendant activities would require a concerted effort to curtail and control so as to prevent problems associated with the old cities.

To this end, he said that the Federal Government was prepared to partner with state governments in order to achieve the nurturing of cities that would evolve to power the national economy.