The New FESTAC Property Development Company Limited (NFPDCL), in conjunction with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Southwest Zone, have partnered to develop the FESTAC Phase 2 Project in FESTAC Town, Lagos.
The firm’s Executive Vice Chairman, Sir Isaac Chuks, said the FESTAC Phase 2 project has a land mass of 1,126 hectares, which was part of the 2, 040 hectares of the entire land of FESTAC Town.
He explained that the project, on completion, will be home to about 350,000 people, a feat he said would be a fantastic help to Lagos in view of the housing deficit gap in the state.
“The city will be unique because of its proximity to the rail projects from Badagry, there will also be a road linking it from Ikeja airport, a kindergarten and secondary schools will be established, including a proposed university, which will afford children to start and complete their educational career within the city. In the area of security, everywhere will be censored with cameras and independent power supply. There are also partners that have indicated their interest to establish a world-class shopping mall and a world-class hospital in the new city,” he explained.
While assuring that the firm has done all the necessary groundwork to kickstart the project, including taking care of the issue of the land grabbers (Omo onile), Chuks revealed that the major off-takers are groups coming from South Africa, Egypt, United Kingdom and China, among other countries. These foreign investors, he explained, will buy and develop the land, just as a German and Swiss firms have also indicated interest in building Disney Island, on more than 40 hectares of land space within the city.
The company secretary, Ajumogobia & Okeke, a firm of legal practitioners, Mr Odein Ajumogobia, described the project as “a mixed development,” in a new city concept, which he said is comparable to EKO Atlantic City in Victoria Island axis of Lagos.
Ajumogobia, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the timing for the project was very perfect because of the new Badagry Express Way being built, which he said would open up the area.
The marketing consultant to the project, and founding partner/consultant, M.I. Okoro and Associates, an Estate management firm, Mr Meckson Okoro, said: “The only way we can engage the Artisans is when the government encourages massive investment in housing development because housing development ensures that all kind of skill and unskilled labours are fully engaged. He expressed optimism that by the time the project is completed, it has had a good return on investment.”
The president of BETONIQ JV Nigeria Ltd, one of the companies providing the technical support for the project, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Monday Morgan, is of the opinion that it is a good one because it will reduce the number of housing deficit in the country and be a way of making their own contribution to the development of Nigeria.
He said any technology that is used to give houses to Nigerians, but which does not attract employment for the youth, is problematic. This, he said, is a reason to support the project as it will also ensure the menace of youth unemployment in the country is tackled given the number of youths it will employ. Morgan explained that the firm’s German partners in Germany will support the project by injecting 80 percent of required funding.
BETONIQ JV Nigeria Ltd Chief Technical Officer, Mr Teun van Sambeek, said his company was bringing to Africa for the first time, a technology used in Asia, Russia and Thailand. Still, he said the company will be providing materials for the building and infrastructure.
Source: The Nation
