A real estate mogul, Dr Kennedy Okonkwo, has urged both the Federal and State Governments to provide lands at nearly zero cost for developers in order to achieve the much-talked about affordable housing in the country.
Okonkwo, who is the Chairman, Victoria Crest Homes, said this option would make the real estate companies to be reasonable in price dealings in order to help in bringing affordable housing into fruition.
In an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune, Okonkwo described affordable housing as one of the critical areas of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and also as a social housing where the government caters for those who could not afford a home.
“Government needs to provide lands at nearly free if truly affordable housing can be affordable because you cannot determine the price that a real estate company would sell its land when you sold the land as a government to him.
“So, the government at that point would lose its control. Government needs to put land at nearly zero cost when you are building a house. For those that are in this building scheme, xyz amount of cement would be given to them.
“This is imperative as one of the SDGs is affordable housing. As a real estate company, we will keep doing our best.”
”Affordable housing, in social context, is a social housing where the government caters for those who don’t have the means to have a home,” Okonkwo stated.
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