Pelican Valley begins construction of recreation, games arena

Ahead of the September 11, 2024 commissioning of the first set of ecostay apartments within Pelican Brief Estate, one of the products of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, the promoter of the emerging Smart City, has begun construction of recreational facilities at the site to enhance the physical well-being of its clients.

The four-in-one facility comprises a standard swimming pool, basketball, badminton, lawn tennis and volleyball court. There will also be provision for table tennis.

The real estate firm on Tuesday, May 21st, also signed over N40 million contract with a contracting firm, Prime Pythagoras, to build and deliver the facility on or before the commissioning of the first sets of apartments in the estate.

The firm projects that the commissioning of the apartments will be attended by a former Ogun State governor, Olusegun Osoba; chairperson of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa; Ogun State commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tunji Odunlami, among other eminent Nigerians.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, Dr Babatunde Adeyemo, said the rationale behind the project is to build an estate where nature meets luxury, to promote a healthy lifestyle in an eco-friendly environment and take clients away from the life of hustle and bustle of both Lagos and Abeokuta metropolis.

Speaking shortly after inspecting the excavation work preparatory to laying of foundation stones for the facility, Adeyemo said it is very important for the real estate company to put the facility in place to further reinforce clients’ confidence in the unique level of high-end comfort environment it will offer them.

He explained that there will be nothing like generators in the estate as power sources will come only from the stepped-down 33KVA electricity trunkline, the energised 500KVA transformer and provision of access to solar/inverter options to complement the grid.

He said: “All these modern infrastructures and recreational facilities are part of our mantra for eco-friendly apartments, where nature meets luxury. It is our brand’s unique selling point (USP). We have got nature already. We have camels already. We want to acquire peacocks and we want to get other natural habitats here too. Having the recreational facility is the luxury aspect of it.

“We just signed a N40m contract today with our contractor on site to build the facility. You can see that they have commenced excavation of the soil for the foundation of the courts. It is very very important for us to put the facility in place because it is what will make our clients feel the unique level of comfort we are offering.

“Besides, we have a farm estate which is about two kilometres away from Pelican Brief and Pelican Ecostay Apartments. We have commenced preparation of the land for cultivation of which some of the fresh produce will be used to service the people that will stay or live here and sell others in huge commercial and economic values. We are developing Pelican’s Ecostay Apartments for our clients, most of whom are living abroad. We want to help them convert these facilities to short-let apartments. Some of them are not here and once they are out of the country, we convert it to a short-let for them where people will come in and relax while our clients earn rental incomes. However, when homeowners are around, we will not bring in clients to the apartments.

“We are building Pelican Ecostay Apartments to take our clients away from the hustle and bustle of Lagos and Abeokuta metropolis, bring them to a reserve area that is 100 percent eco-friendly; we are not going have anything like generator because there is an already a step down 33KVA, you can see electrification lines, we have a 500KVA transformer fully energised and at the same time, we are going to build solar/ inverter panels to back up for shortfalls in public power supply.

“By the grace of God, we are looking forward to having former governor, Olusegun Osoba, to commission the facilities and apartments for us by September 11 and we also looking forward to having the Ogun State’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Tunji Odunlami, who is one the brilliant executors of the master plan of Ogun State. His discipline and principles took us to where we are now. If he were to be an all-comers thing, most of the real estate investors would not have seen the need to do approvals. And having made us see the importance, I have done it and have seen the benefits. I will continue to do approvals for all my real estate products in Ogun State.

“Today, we received yet another approval for the extension of Pelican Brief Estate. We are extending Pelican Brief by another 600 plots and even with the extension, we are proposing closure of land sales, soonest at Pelican Brief Estate. We want to start adding value and building apartment structures for sales instead of selling lands. Hopefully in about a month or two, we will stop selling lands in Pelican-Brief. We will concentrate on building for sale. That is why we are driving these multi-million naira facilities to this environment.”

On sustainability of the facility, he said, “Although there will be development levies for the subscribers, we are not going to wait for our clients to commit their funds before we put the needful facilities and infrastructure in place. We added our funds to finance the Ecostay apartments and Pelican-Brief infrastructure upgrades. We won’t wait for clients to fix our estates’ basic infrastructures, we are continuously producing interlocking stones to fix our roads in the Pelican Brief and Ecostay Apartments. We want those coming in to feel the aura of nature and luxury here. We want to make this place the next Dubai, God willing,” Dr Adeyemo added.