Onyebuchi Ezigbo
17 September 2008
Abuja — The federal government yesterday said it is working on a plan to deliver to Nigerians more than one million housing units in the next four years.
Minister of State for Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Chief Chuka Odum who disclosed the government's plan of action during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) and Development Lease Agreement with six private sector real estate developers and investors in Abuja said the decision to build the houses is in recognition of the significance importance of housing and the role of cities in national development.
"As we said at the commencement of the housing programme, federal government is targeting one million units of housing in the next four years and I can assure you, we are going to surpass that target," he said.
The six firms that signed the development lease agreement with government are Proswift Energy Limited, Kasgama Nigeria Limited, Leomark Construction Limited, Samak Construction limited Well properties limited and Advantage Nigeria limited.
The Minister while giving details of the partnership deal named five states, Edo , Imo, Kaduna, kwara and Ondo as beneficiaries of the housing projects to be executed under the agreement.
He said under the agreement, the private sector companies are to provide funding for the housing projects, with governmentís only equity contribution being the land asset for which it is entitled to 20% of returns on the assessed value of the land.
"Government has no direct financial involvement in the deal. It worked to encourage private estate developers to partner with government. Governmentís own interest in this transaction is the land which is valued and the cost of the land is the governmentís equity participation in the project," he said.
Odum said one of the policy thrust of the present administration is to try to make investment in housing very incentive-friendly to the private sector, adding that today private sector developers are also expected to provide infrastructure at the site.
Speaking on the strategies being adopted by federal government to ensure the delivery of the target one million housing units, Odun said the Ministry has also signed another agreement recently with the Nassarawa State government to develop 100 hectares of land in Karu under a Public-Public-Private partnership arrangement.
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