[size=14pt]Lagos New Flats Go For N13m [/size]


To own a three bedroom flat in the Millennium Housing Estate, Ojokoro II, commissioned by Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Tuesday, one needs to cough out N13.4 million to be spread over a long period of time.
The project is under the Lagos Homes Ownership Scheme, HOMS which was launched two weeks ago and is meant to assist Lagosians to own their homes through mortgage arrangement spreading over a period of 20 years.
To get a three bedroom flat at the new estate, one has to make an initial deposit of N4.02 million, representing 30 percent of the overall amount while the remaining N9.38 million will be spread over a period of 20 years at N39, 000 on monthly basis.
The estate is constructed on a total area of 1.487 hectares. The scheme was initiated in October 2008 and completed last year.
The scheme consists of 80 units of 8-in-1, three bedroom flats with drainage, road infrastructure and a mini-water treatment. The scheme forms part of the parent stock of housing units to jumpstart the HOMS.
“In order to ensure that the less privileged could access decent accommodation, we have deliberately made this estate part of the parent stock available for the mortgage scheme. I am sure the delivery of this project had impacted positively on the wellbeing of the people,” said the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje.
The commissioner disclosed that three other estates-Ikota, Ikeja and Gbagada would be ready for commissioning in the next few months.
He said the Ojokoro Estate boasts of facilities including Estate Manager’s Office, fence, security post, walkways and well landscaped environment.
Speaking at the commissioning of the estate, Fashola said the solution to the challenges of housing that Nigerians faced would not be achieved simply by government alone.
According to him, the solution to the numerous challenges require a combination of forces of government, private sector collaboration, inducing investment in housing, developing or inducing a fiscal and monetary policy control including exchange and interest rate that are friendly to the housing sector.
The governor appealed for support of Lagosians to ensure the success of government’s policies and plans to solve the housing problems of the state, saying that the handover was to redeem the pledge of mortgage based affordable housing by his administration during the electioneering campaigns.
“The people have voted as we requested; we have come to redeem our pledge to do our best to solve the housing problem by handing over a set of housing units that Government has built,” the governor said, adding, “The difference between us and other parties is that we perform while others lament their inability to translate promises to action.”
Pointing out, however, that the challenges of housing in the state would not be solved by the government alone building houses, Fashola explained that the problems that stood in the way of supply of affordable housing for the people extended beyond what happens inside the State Government alone.
“The solution requires a combination of forces of government, private sector collaboration including investments in housing, developing or inducing investment in housing, developing or inducing a fiscal and monetary policy control, exchange rate and interest rate that are friendly to the housing sector, evolving policies that lead to competitively priced building materials and cost of labour, the pricing of fuel to run construction equipment and transport building materials in a way that will positively impact housing delivery, are some of the many hurdles that we must address and overcome,” he said.
The governor stated that in the quest to overcome some of the hurdles, a team of dedicated officers in the public service led by him had worked behind the scene, in the last three years in collaboration with private sector volunteers, to examine and identify some of the problems.
“We have agreed and disagreed and come to a compromise on what we consider to be the most efficient solutions that we can deploy,” the governor said, adding, however, that the government has no control over some of the variables like cost of fuel, interest rate, exchange rate and tariffs on imported building materials.
He commended the team for its “resourcefulness, determination and passion to find a road where none seems to exist,” adding, “they have evolved a series of policies and plans which we have started implementing and I am convinced that with the support of our people, their patience and understanding, we will succeed.”
According to him, what is required to solve the housing challenge of the state “is a combination of building and enunciation of policies that will re-energize the housing sector, restore confidence of investors to partner with government and unleash the enterprise and potentials that are clearly inherent in the housing sector.”
Fashola said the government had now moved to the next stage of implementation of the HOMS, starting with the handing over of the 336-Housing Unit Sir Michael Otedola Housing Scheme in Odorangushin, Epe, adding that aside the 80 units being handed over at the occasion, government was already accelerating plans to conclude other housing units that it has started, while plans were underway to finalise new ones to start in Igando, Surulere, Omole, Ketu, Ogba and Ajara “so that we can ensure a continuous delivery of housing units periodically as they are completed into the stock of the Lagos HOMS Project for onward sale on mortgage or what the people call ‘rent to own.”
— Kazeem Ugbodaga

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