Investor stakes $500m in Ilubirin housing project
A private investor, First Investment Property Company (FIDC), and partner of Lagos State government in the development of the Ilubirin Housing Scheme, near Adeniji Adele, Lagos Island, is bringing in $500 million (about N152.5bn) to partly finance the project, BusinessDay learns.
The deployment of the fund is expected to accelerate the pace of work on the housing scheme initiated in 2014, under the Lagos Home Ownership and Mortgage Scheme (LAGOSHOMS).
Gbolahan Lawal, Lagos State commissioner for housing, confirmed to BusinessDay, Wednesday, that FIDC had also assembled a team of local and international experts to come up with a master plan that would showcase the site’s position as a residential, commercial and leisure environment along the lagoon to guarantee a 24-hour cosmopolitan lifecycle.
The housing project was conceived purely as residential, but later redesigned as a live, work and play scheme with the current administration in state inviting private investors to partner the state for its completion. The scheme, which consists of 472 units, is being developed in phases with the target to be fully completed in 2022.
According to Lawal, the plan is to complete the first phase of the housing scheme before the end of 2018, and put the houses up for sale to the public in the first quarter of 2019, while other phases will be completed in 2022.
The 472 residential units are of studio apartments, 1, 2 and 3 bedroom flats, terraces and penthouses, while commercial unit and recreational facilities such as sporting facilities, parks, a club house as well as day care facilities would also be accommodated.
“The water front will be developed as an active promenade with restaurants and bars. A shopping mall will be located by the eco-park and will be a destination for visitors and sightseers. There would be something for everyone in Ilubirin,” Lawal said.
The commissioner explained that due to massive housing projects ongoing in different parts of the state and the limited budgetary provision to complete them, the government sought a partnership with private sector through a joint venture agreement to complete Ilubirin scheme.
“After a review of the proposals received from various companies for the completion of the project, Messrs First Investment Property Company (FIDC) was selected to partner with the state government to fulfill the vision of Ilubirin.
“FIDC is expected to source fund for the completion of the project and also to provide technical expertise for its completion. The equity of the state is majorly the land and the development executed to date,” he said.
The commissioner further explained that there had been careful infrastructural and environmental planning of the scheme due to its location on a reclaimed land. According to him, flood simulations has been undertaken, integrity tests carried out while traffic studies were commissioned due to the proximity of the housing scheme to the busiest network of roads between the mainland and island.
“One challenge unique to the site, however, its proximity to a series of drainage channels carrying effluent from Lagos Island. To address this, an eco-park has been designed to counter the impact of sewage and contribute to a cleaner Lagos.
“The high visibility of the site along the Third Mainland Bridge axis demands exemplary aesthetics. Like the Lekki Link Bridge, this project has the potential of becoming an iconic reference point and a catalyst for the regeneration of the surrounding areas such as Isale-Eko, Dolphin and Osborne Foreshore,” he said.
Besides, Lawal said a power generation project supplying electricity to the grid would be hosted on the site to drive a 24-hour live, work and play environment, while the project would enhance the Light Up Lagos Initiative of the state government.
“A new flyover will be built to connect the development to the Third Mainland bridge axis. This will ensure seamless integration into the wider road network without impacting negatively on the existing traffic,” he said.