…delivers 492-unit Jakande Gardens, to deliver 1248 units more in 6months
Worried by the high level of ‘homelessness’ and the wide gap between housing demand and supply, the new government in Lagos State with Babajide Sanwo-olu as governor is pushing aggressively to close that gap keeps widening yearon-year in the state.
Within the first 100 days of the new administration, the state government has invested time and resources in the completion of on-going housing projects in the state, leading to the completion of one of such projects—alhaji Lateef Jakande Gardens, which was commissioned last week Wednesday.
The housing estate, formerly known as Igando Gardens, is located in Igando area of the state, off LASU Road. It has 41 blocks comprising 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments, giving a total of 492 housing units.
What this means is that 492 families will be taken off the state’s crowded housing market. At an average of six persons per family, comprising father, mother, four children and two dependants or domestic servants, it means that 2,972 persons have been provided homes at the estate.
Lagos with housing deficit estimated at 3million units has several on-going housing projects at various stages of construction and completion. These projects were, largely, aimed to serve the state’s homeownership mortgage scheme (LAGOSHOMS) set up in 2012 by Babatunde Fashola as governor.
At the commissioning of the Lateef Jakande Gardens Igando, Sanwo-olu assured Lagos residents that his administration would complete these on-going projects, emphasizing that in the next six months, about 1248 more housing units would be commissioned and given out to home seekers.
“In the delivery of various housing projects across the state, government will be consistent and will embrace rigorous planning and financial discipline in ensuring that on–going housing projects are delivered on schedule.
“It is the desire of this administration to ensure that every single family with an income below a certain level, provided they meet basic program requirements, ben www. efit from the mass housing projects in the State; ‘we hope to be able to attain this level with your cooperation and support,”, the governor added.
The Sanwo-olu administration in Lagos has the vision and ambitious plan of transforming the state into a 21st Century economy, recognizing however the place of adequate housing in any thriving economy.
“There is need for government to address the issue of housing in the State,” the governor admitted, explaining that this understanding “informed the continued and significant investments in housing projects”.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Moruf Akinderu-fatai, the state commissioner for housing, had noted that building a 21st century economy had indeed begun touching the lives of Lagos people, building confidence and generating hope of a better future in the minds of all.
The commissioner disclosed that the state government had started implementing policies that would make the environment more conducive for private sector participation and joint ventures investment in the provision of mass houses, especially in urban areas where the housing deficit was quite acute.
“We hereby invite interested investors to come forward to collaborate with government in this regard,” the commissioner stated.
For savvy investors, this invitation is quite compelling as investment opportunities in the state’s housing sector is huge. This is a state where the population is over 20 million; housing deficit is about 3 million and over 60 percent of its population lives in rented accommodation.
This means that whether an investor is building to let or for sale, the demand is huge. But the government needs to actually walk its talk by making the environment enabling and friendly.
Source: Businessday
