PROPERTY NEWS

The Ogun State Government has called for increased private sector participation in the provision of affordable housing in the state to ensure decent shelter for the people while boosting commercial activities in the state‘s communities.

The Commissioner for Housing, Mrs. Jokotade Odebunmi, made the call while signing a Memorandum of Understanding with a private firm, PK Properties Nigeria Limited, for the provision of 80 housing units of three categories at the Media Garden Estate, Ajebo Road, Abeokuta, on Thursday.

Odebunmi, who acknowledged the intervention of private developers in the ongoing construction of housing units at the Ibara GRA Renewal Scheme, declared that the burden of undertaking housing projects for the residents of the state had become tasking.

The commissioner said, "We cannot do it alone. That is why we have embraced the Private-Public Partnership in the provision of housing in Ogun State. The private sector must be part of investment activities in partnership with the government. We believe that if we can provide a secured and serene environment for our people, it will surely boost the economic activities in our state.

She explained that the housing units, consisting of 30 two-bedrooom detached bungalows; 20 three-bedroom semi-detached bungalows; and 30 four-bedroom detached bungalows, would be completed by May 2011.

Odebunmi called on the developer not to betray the trust the state government had reposed in the company though the partnership arrangement.

The Chief Executive Officer, PKPNL, Mr. Olubunmi Paul, said the firm would spend an estimated N500m to complete the housing units, promising that the housing units would be affordable to majority of the people of the state, irrespective of their economic class.

Paul, who explained that construction work would start at the site in July, added that the units of houses would cost between N4.5m to N7m.

He said, "What we are building is going to be affordable to so many people; at least 70 per cent of the population in Ogun State. We are moving to site in the next four weeks. We need to deliver before May next year and we have estimated that this project will take 11 months to complete and we are projecting that the project will cost us N500m."

Paul noted that the involvement of the firm was to complement the efforts of the state government at providing affordable houses for the people, adding that inadequate housing estates in the state had forced some residents to relocate to neighbouring states.