According to available information, Nigeria has more than 17 million housing deficit and would require to build one million houses annually for the next 20 years to bridge the accommodation gap.
How the country goes about this and method to be adopted to meet the target have been a major concern for all stakeholders, as statistics has shown that less than 100,000 housing units were delivered in 2018.
Factors such as harsh business environment, high cost of land, high cost of funds, bureaucratic bottlenecks, low purchasing power, insecurity, lack of enabling environment, among others have been adduced by stakeholders for not meeting the housing target yearly.
While some stakeholders are comfortable with the conventional way (bricks and mud) of construction to bridge the housing gap, others are already raising the bar, deploying innovative technology to produce mass housing in the country.
To the latter, the argument is that the only way Nigeria can bridge its accommodation deficit is through adoption of modern technology to deliver mass and quality houses within the shortest time.
This is the practice in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia, among others, where different types of modern building technologies such hydra foam, formwork, modular, moladi and building systems are in use.
To demonstrating the tech approach, Alpha Mead Development Company has rolled out some unique housing units through the use of technology known as ‘Formwork’ to construct some houses at the serene neighbourhood along Lekki –Ajah axis
A cursory look by New Telegraph showed that all the building lines are straight, the edges smooth, while the finishing.
Technology versus conventional method
Giving details of the new technology and the housing estate, the Managing Director, Alpha Mead Development Company, Mr. Damola Akindolire, said that building with formwork technology was faster, pointing out that unlike the conventional method of brick and mortal where construction of a three bedroom house could take between one and two months, the technology allowed a unit of house to be delivered within 10 days.
For Nigeria to meet the housing needs of citizens, he said: “The nation needs a rapid technology, advanced method of construction that can deliver houses massively in a way you delivered vehicles – a production line like that of manufacturing line.”
To achieve this feat, he said his company took up the responsibility by investing $3 million to acquire formwork technology from the United State to deliver quality and sustainable houses that can last 99 years “because we made up our minds not to do things in a conventional way.”
He described the technology as a ‘multi-dimensional system that brings ultimate benefits to homeowners.’
According to him, the speed of construction made it easier for the company to reduce the cost of financing, cost of labour and to effectively deliver better and cheaper housing units for customers.
He said: “The days of straight lines have long gone in Nigeria except you bring foreigners; but with formwork system, we have found a creative way to ensure that quality is the hallmark of a system.”
Group Chief Executive Officer Alpha Mead, Mr. Femi Akintunde, an engineer, said what Nigerians required was quality housing units to be delivered when painstakingly planned for.
Through the use of technology, he disclosed that many unskilled workers were up-skilled, saying that experts were brought in from America to train them about the use of the modern building equipment.
Akintunde said the technology allowed the skills of the company workers to be enhanced.
“We turned the unskilled workers to semi-skilled workers through training by our experts. We doubled their wages. The system was built by Nigerians,” he said.
Through the use of technology, he stated that the lifecycle of the house increased, while its maintenance cost less, saying it costs 20 per cent less to operate the asset from the design to accommodate solar systems.
Besides, he hinted that biogas sewage system was installed to encourage the use of the rest room to generate more power for the street light.
“You don’t have to evacuate waste, sludge, you don’t have to buy energy,” he said, adding that the technology helped to manage energy in an efficient way
“From the purchase, we have use technology to break the barriers that exist as a house is built within 10 days,” Akintunde said.
According to the group managing director, Nigeria can only bridge 20 million housing deficit with the use of modern technology and not through conventional building method.
“We bought three set of equipment and each of them produces up to 2,000 housing units. We have just done 50 units, sitting on one hectare. The second side is two hectares to occupy 70 houses,” he said.
He explained that within three days, the concrete was poured into the formwork and allow to cure, adding that in seven days, a house is ready.
New skills
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at the inauguration of the new President of the Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, recently urged professionals in the built industry to develop new skills for the promotion of innovative building techniques that are anchored on indigenous building materials.
The minister charged them to fine-tune current regulatory instruments and arrest quackery, punish professional recklessness and reward excellence in the industry.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, challenged Nigerian builders to come up with building construction innovation that would not only stand the test of time but would also be suitable for the tropical weather conditions in Nigeria
Group Chairman, Alpha Mead, Mutiu Sumonu, said that building with technology would transform the housing industry greatly.
He said: “What we have done here is integrated project, it is not just a development, but a development that has the maintenance of facilities that is built there.”
Also, Chairman, Apha Mead Development Company, Mr. Dada Thomas, stated that the objective of the company was to provide housing from the middle-class group and reduce housing units.
Besides meeting housing needs, he hinted that the estate was designed in a way to mitigate climate change, disclosing that the roof was flat to allow installation of solar panel while there was no overhead cables, adding that sewage system was channeled in a way to generate electricity to power the estate’s street light.
To ensure affordability, Akintunde said the company came up with good payment plan that allows people to pay for the housing units over a period of time.
On the estate facility, the estate parades good paved road and ample parking space, electricity supply, solar energy, water supply, covered drains and secured estate gate.
He added that the space plan was designed in a manner that suit middle-income professionals who are upwardly mobile.
Last line
Private sector and government need to collaborate by investing modern technology to turn around fortunes of the housing sector.
Source: newtelegraphng
