1,601 bid to buy Kaduna govt houses

ABOUT 1,601 bidded to buy 1,990 Kaduna government houses as the bidding process opened .

The exercise is being witnessed by the anti-graft agencies, labour unions, among others.

It observed that majority of the bidders were civil servants who also took part in the process.

It will be recalled that the sales process for the government residential quarters was launched following a decision by the Kaduna State executive council to sell the houses, and save the funds used in renovating and maintaining them.

Interested bidders were given 90-days to submit bids based on the Open-Market Value of the houses. The government said it opted for the sale of the houses to save some money towards maintaining and renovating them.

The government exempted houses occupied by judges, and those quarters sited in schools, hospitals and the premises of the water corporation as about 1,990 houses were offered for sale.

The sales guidelines also granted current legal occupants of the houses the right to match the highest bid on their houses.

Speaking during the bid opening ceremony held at the State House, Kawo, Kaduna, chairman, Biding Committee, who is also the State Commissioner of Finance, Suleiman Abdu Kwari, while commending Governor Nasir El-Rufai for his transparent and accountable leadership, said at the close of bids submission, a total of 1,601 sealed bid envelopes were submitted.

According to him: “we welcome you to today’s event. Following the conclusion of  the bids submission procedure, the committee on the sales of government quarters has announced the opening of the bids for today being 6th June, 2017.

“At the close of submission, a total of 1601 sealed bid envelopes were submitted and they are all in a green box before us. Each envelope was duly signed and acknowledged and a serial number was assigned to each of them. Any exception will not be attended to.

Some of the rules of the proceeding include, where there is a tag, the first bidder that submitted will be declared a winner. Winners will only be announced at the end of the scrutiny, this implies that winners can only emerge when the last envelope has been opened and recorded.”

“Distribution of letters to the winners and current occupants will commence after the winners have been announced and the result of the bid and other documentations duly endorsed.”

We will let you know of any other requirements as the proceeding continues. However, we have also attached the few guidelines which is also accessible on our websites.”

Kwari added: “I want to assure this gathering that those houses not listed in this exercise will be taken in the second batch of the exercise that will be conducted because the exercise supposed to be a continued exercise, and the occupants and allottees will also be allowed to bid. We thank all for their participation and I hope this process continue peacefully as it has started, so that at the end of the day we shall all smile, and also give credence for seeing this process through” he said.

Present at the bid opening were members of the committee for the Sales of Government non-essential houses, representative of labour unions, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), State Security Service and the Kaduna State Commissioner of police.