Edo govt, civil servants partner to build 100,000 affordable houses in 3yrs

As part of efforts to ensure that civil and public servants in Edo State have access to befitting housing accommodation, the state government says it will, in the next three years, construct 100,000 low-cost housing units for them.

BusinessDay gathered that the mass housing units which would be facilitated under the Private-Public Partnership initiative (PPP) would be constructed across the three senatorial districts.

The state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, gave the hint during the presentation of the 2014 appropriation bill to the state House of Assembly in Benin City recently.

Oshiomhole did not, however, disclose how much of the N159.213 billion 2014 budget was allocated to the housing and urban planning development sector of the state.

“We are committed to providing affordable housing for our people. To this end, government intends to partner with real estate developers and financiers within the PPP framework to facilitate the delivery of mass housing across the three senatorial districts. We hope to create not less than 100,000 housing units through this initiative, over the next three years,” he said.

Investigations, however, reveal that one of the real estate developers is to construct 3,000 housing units. The developer, Demah Group International based in Benin City, is expected to build 3,000 mass housing units at Sapele by-pass under a tripartite arrangement between it, the state government and the state civil and public servants. The initiative is said to be coordinated by the leadership of the state chapter of Joint Negotiating Council (JNC).

Oshiomhole also disclosed that the state government has established a Geographic Information System (GIS) to facilitate the accurate management of land in the state, which, he said, would enable the state government to utilise the most recent technology to undertake aerial survey of the entire landmass of the state.

The governor added that it would also enable the state to have effective management of its mineral resources, agriculture, road network, electricity, infrastructure, housing and other social amenities.

The 2014 budget tagged “Budget of Renewed Hope” is made up of N85.595 billion as capital expenditure, representing 53.76 percent, and N73.617 billion recurrent expenditure, representing 46.24 percent of the entire budget.

By: IDRIS UMAR MOMOH