Daily Independent (Lagos)
Dada Jackson And Bamidele Ogunwusi
24 November 2008
It has been observed that construction activities across the country have been at their highest peak in the year and that despite the huge construction works going on, prices of building materials have remained stable in the market.
Unlike this time last year, when building materials were scarce, investigations have revealed that these materials, with the exception of cement, which is not available in large quantity in some parts of Lagos, building materials are available and their prices have been stable in the last six months.
Though stable, investigations revealed that prices of these materials have not gone down as expected by Nigerians but the price stability that is being currently experienced in the market has assisted developers and individual builders to be able to plan ahead for their projects.
Daily Independent gathered that though some building materials have enjoyed relative stability in the last six months, prices of others have gone down considerably.
Developers, who spoke to Daily Independent said the development has been encouraging. Some described the relatively stable price of building materials in the market as a welcome development while a few of them still say that the cost of sand is nothing to cheer about.
A cross-section of developers, who spoke with Daily Independent, posited that the prices of building materials like cement, roofing sheets, slates just to mention a few have been stable in the last six months or so, they noted the cost should still come down to allow for more construction.
Other building materials whose prices have remained relatively stable are blocks, sanitary wares, wood, paints, tiles, doors and PVC pipes.
In his contribution, Ade Omonitan, an Ibadan-based developer, the development is an indication that there is hope in the industry because it will encourage more developers to move to site.
"Though, the prices of these materials have not dropped as expected, but one thing that is good in this price stability is that developers will be able to complete their projects on schedule.
"We, at Jubilee Construction Company Limited, are working towards completing work on some of our houses before the end of the year and the situation in the market is encouraging us.
"Let me give one instance, when we started construction, we estimated the cost of a bag of cement at N1,800 because a bag of cement was between N1,700 and N1,750 but in the last four months we have been buying cement lower than the projected price and this is good for us," said Omonitan, whose company is the currently developing "Moonlight Estate" along the Ibadan-Ile-Ife Expressway.
Managing Director of Megamound Investment Limited, Olumide Sounding, said that the stable price regime has provided his company the opportunity of undertaking construction with coordinated projection.
According to him, though this stability could be said to signal increase in development, the price of sand is noting to really cheer about.
He said that since the Lagos Sate Government imposed a ban on sand dredging in the state, developers along the Lekki-Epe axis have been finding it difficult to move sand from the mainland to Lekki.
Osunsina pointed out that a tipper load of sand that the company buys from Ikorodu an outskirt of the state, costs about N65, 000.00k per tipper.He was quick to add, that the tipper is able to make just one trip due to the distance from Lekki to Ikorodu.
He appealed to the Governor Babatunde Fashola to rescind the ban in order to allow for developers on the Lekki-Epe corridor to have the commodity in abundance.
Speaking in the same vein, Managing Director of CMB Building Maintenance and Investment Company Limited, Kelechi Mbagwu, noted that the ban on sand has taken a toll on construction in the Lekki-Epe corridor.
He said that the stable regime ion the price of building materials was a good omen for the construction sub-sector of the economy.
According to him, there was however the need for the price of cement major component in construction to further go down. He was quick to add, that this would help to increase the tempo of construction.
Mbagwu was of the opinion that the spate of construction along the Lekki-Epe corridor at this time of the year with the relative stability in the cost of building materials was something that would further increase activities along the axis.
They posited that the number of housing stocks might not necessarily be on the high but construction would definitely peak with the friendly price regime and the longevity of its stability.
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