Going by the acute accommodation challenges in Nigerian cities, housing experts are suggesting the construction of 50 to 60 towers of 20 -storey buildings in Lagos and Abuja to lessen the burden. DAYO AYEYEMI reports.
As part of efforts to reduce housing challenges in the Nigerian cities, built environment experts are canvassing vertical building development in Lagos and Abuja Central Business Area, as it is in the developed countries.
This, they said would allow more people have access to decent and affordable housing in Nigerian cities.
Major challenges in Nigeria are huge urban human population, housing crisis, unemployment, increase in slum settlement and traffic jam.
Presently, Nigeria has an estimated 22 million units of housing deficit that will require the production of one million houses annually to fix in 20 years.
Looking at the possibility of vertical building construction in urban centers while deliberating on the social platform of the Festus Adebayo-led Housing Development Advocacy Network, some of the experts said this could be made possible if the right finance model, building technology, genuine property developers and enabling environment are in place.
Citing 31-storey Trellick Tower in London, Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer, Mr. Femi Oyedele, said that Lagos would need at least 50 of such tower in Ebute Metta, Orile Iganmu and Ijora Badiya to solve accommodation challenges.
He said: ”We need at least 50 of this tower in Ebute Metta, Orile Iganmu and Ijora Badiya in Lagos. “Lagos needs vertical development now. May God help us to achieve this before 2030.”
Oyedele bemoaned the exiting horizontal development of houses in Nigeria, saying it has transportation challenges to places of work. “If we can develop 20 number 10 storey buildings with each building having 15 flats of 4 units of studio apartments, 4 units of one bedroom flats, 3 units two bedroom flats and 4 units of 3 bedroom flat around Abuja CBA, say in Garki Area 8, Wuse Zone 3, Wuse Zone 1 and Utako/Jabi, we would definitely reduce the housing challenges of majority of people in Abuja,” he said.
Another expert, who identified himself simply as “Wecare service”, said vertical building development in Nigerian cities would be achievable if there are good banking policies to support housing construction.
According to him, real estate sector needed serious intervention to enjoy vertical building development.
“We can achieve it if we have good banking policy to support housing construction. I once stayed in a home on 17th floor and I saw the banks investing on construction of other phase for the developers who turn to also manage it and lease it out,” he said.
Another expert, Bassey, pointed out that Egypt, especially Cairo was adorned with vertical buildings
“This is the housing pattern in most parts of Cairo. This allows more people access to decent and affordable housing in the city. It is possible,” he said.
Finance
On the challenge of finance for such vertical building construction, Oyedele is of the opinion that genuine property developers should find it easy to access fund for property development.
According to him, one of the requirements is title to the land. “At this stage of our socio-economic development, few individuals should be building residential houses. Most residential houses should be vertical development in the cities,” he said.
On high cost of building, Oyedele said: “I think the biggest problem today is building market-averse properties. Our developers are not building affordable homes or do not have in pace measures like rent-to-buy that will make homes procurement easy for the people.
“We have so many completed but unoccupied houses in Nigeria. We need concerted effort to evolve a good housing culture in Nigeria. Too many people are building “piecemeal housing” thereby exerting pressure on building materials.
“A lot of house builders cannot pay rent, yet they build inside bush at the outskirts of towns. We need law that will make it mandatory for prospective home procurers (buyers and builders) to involve institution financiers before commencement of construction process. Scottish Housing Regulators model is a good example to follow in this regard,” the expert said.
At this stage of our socio-economic development, few individuals should be building residential houses. Most residential houses should be vertical development in the cities.,” an expert said.
Infrastructure challenge
However, another expert argued that the nation doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure and culture to sustain vertical building development.
Expressing his fear, another expert pointed out that over 90 percent of collapsed buildings across the nation were not bungalows.
“With the current high spate of collapse of high rises under construction, I’m afraid the idea may not fly for now. However, we will ultimately come to that when the time is ripe,” he said.
Contrarily, Oyedele said that Nigeria has the right infrastructure like energy to power the elevators, water supply to service the buildings and other facilities like waste management and security.
“We have buildings that are over 25 storey in Banana Island, Atlantic City, Ikoyi, Lekki and Victoria Island. Nigerians are those managing them. Stallion House at 2, Ajose Adeogun has over 10 floors and is well managed,” he said.
Need for reform
Professor of housing at the University of Lagos, Olugbenga Nubi, said that vertical building was the only viable path forward
He said, ”This is indeed the only viable path forward, but the crucial question remains funding, raising poser about the capital strength of Nigeria’s largest developer presently.“How many developers are currently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange?
“The stark reality is that a nation of 200 million people with only about 100,000 mortgages is a stark anomaly,” he said.
“We face significant challenges on both the supply and demand sides. “As Cohen aptly noted in 2002, the character of a city is reflected in its available housing finance system. “Unfortunately, with 70 percent of our population living below the poverty line, we are destined for sprawling slums and unmanaged urban growth unless we implement drastic reforms,” the university lecturer said.
Another expert is of the opinion that if the government creates the right policy environment, provides adequate financial support, and addresses land-related issues, developers can unleash a supply of much-needed housing.
This approach, he said would lead to the emergence of national, regional, and local builders/players with different financial capabilities, while still leaving room for those who choose to self-build, which is a fundamental aspect of the right to housing.
“Constructing taller buildings can create its own problems and may also lead to slums if not handled properly. The unplanned nature of development in many of our cities is primarily due to poor planning control. A lack of investment in urban regeneration is also a contributory factor in urban sprawl.
“Aside from all the other issues, I agree that one of our priorities for now should be ensuring that we can build houses that don’t collapse every week,” he said
Oyedele said “We have the necessary infrastructure for high-rise residential structures in Nigeria. We have the human resources to manage them too. What we don’t have yet is policy formulation on highrise residential developments.
“Highrise residential developments in CBD of Nigeria, for examples, Lagos Island, Obalende and Agege in Lagos and Wuse II, CBA and Wuse Zone 3 in Abuja, are not option but the only solution to our urban housing challenges.”
Oyedele explained further that it was true that Nigeria has finance issue, but that government has the muscle to get loan from banks for viable projects.
“What we lack is the policy statement that will ensure construction of these high-rises. The buildings will not take eternity to complete as government will be the developers” he said.
Besides, he said that government could get the financing through banks or capital markets.
On capacity of indigenous companies/professionals to handle the construction irrespective of the incessant collapse of buildings in Nigeria, the expert said they have capacity
“Apparently, the buildings that are collapsing are below 5-storey buildings. We have 30 and 28 and 25 storey buildings. The 21 storey buildings is a victim of corruption. You don’t allow an inexperienced construction company to construct buildings of up to four floors. As a developer, you don’t have to be the contractor if you don’t have the wherewithal.
Talking about investors, Oyedele said that investors would only invest in economic housing for profit rather than going into social housing.
“We are imploring governments to evolve the right policy and framework and engage in social housing as decent housing is the constitutional right if all Nigerians.
“To lower the cost of construction in the country, we have to adopt alternative methods of construction. We need to use timber and steel more than cement. We also need red to consider plywood for partitioning and plastic sheets for doors.We have rocks in Nigeria. We can used shaped stones as interlocking stones for our roads,” the expert said.
On the advantages of vertical construction, he said they included cheaper cost of land and nearness to the city centre “which serves as hubs of commerce.”
According to him, high-rises are developed for the masses near their places of works.
“The buildings will reduce their journey time from work to house and reduce stress and hospital visits. Overall, the city where we have adequate high-rises will be users’ friendly,” Oyedele said.
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