The Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday said that the construction of mass
housing projects in 33 states across the country has commenced.
The Minister, who disclosed this
at the sixth meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban
Development, told delegates at the event that with ongoing housing projects,
the government had fulfilled the commitment it made at the 2016 council meeting
by 90 per cent
He also called for an upward
review of up to 50 per cent as mobilization funds for contractors, especially
emerging contractors operating in the built environment, in order to enable
them to deliver their projects satisfactorily.
Commenting on the progress report on the National Housing Programme, which was discussed at last year’ s meeting, Fashola said, “At the time of the council meeting in August 2016, I reported that we were finalising designs to accommodate our cultural, climatic and other diversities .
“I had explained that when the designs were completed, we would commence construction to pilot the designs and test them for affordability and acceptability. I am pleased to report that construction has started in 33 states where land has been made available.
“This is in fulfilment of another commitment made at last year’s council by at least 90 per cent.”
Fashola also stated that stakeholders had resolved to facilitate the use of exchange of letters for the transfer of title to land when states were transferring land to the Federal Government.
He said, “I am happy to report that there has been very inspiring compliance based on the several letters of exchange that I have received and which I have duly signed.
“All I need say about this in terms of compliance is that if there are still states yet to comply , they should please do so very quickly.”
The minister said he had
personally visited project sites in Taraba, Gombe, Ekiti, Oyo states , adding
that “what I saw demonstrates to me very clearly how impactful the National
Housing Programme has been, even at the pilot and inception stage .”
On the size of Nigeria’s housing
deficit, Fashola said every nation was faced with similar situation, and noted
that the size of the population determines the growth rate, the urbanisation
rate, and the size of the deficit.
He stated that aside from
artisans involved in the mass housing construction project, 653 contractors
were engaged in the pilot scheme to deliver 2, 736 units. “A total of 54, 680
people were employed in the process,” he added.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com