Firm to invest $30b in Lagos’ housing sector

• Stakeholders seek flexible land acquisition regime

A conglomerate with interest in property, construction, oil, gas as well as retail and educational services, Aiben Group, is to commit $30 billion in three years beginning from mid-2017 on a housing project, Biltmore Garden City, in Lagos.

The Managing Director, Andy Elerewe, who dropped the hint yesterday at the commissioning of the group’s corporate headquarters in Abuja, added that project would include the construction of 250 luxury buildings, a five-star hotel, an Olympic-standard football pitch and a waterfront.

Also included are recreation facilities, standard courts, a club house, swimming pool as well as a 500-capcity modern cinema and multi-purpose hall.

Reiterating the firm’s mission of providing affordable but high-quality housing for the citizenry in prime locations and ensuring they have value for their money, Elerewe noted that the Lagos project would create no less than 1000 direct and indirect jobs for the teeming unemployed youths

“Presently, our group has six ongoing estate projects in Abuja,” he said.

Also yesterday, stakeholders in the built sector implored the Federal Government to dismantle encumbrances militating against the acquisition of land for massive housing development, stressing that a flexible regime would go a long way in reducing the cost of home ownership in the country

A representative of the Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Yunusa Shuaibu, who spoke on the occasion, observed: “We are not immune to the challenges plaguing the built sector. The system is severely hindered by the difficulty in accessing land for housing development.”