Why Oyo Govt. partners with private housing developers – CPS

The Oyo State Government says shelter, being one of the basic needs of man, should be accessible to the people of the state and that it is making all efforts to ensure houses are available.

The Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Seyi Makinde, Mr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said this on Tuesday in Ibadan.

Olanrewaju, while making clarifications on the reasons behind the state government’s partnership with Fendini Homes and other private firms to build housing estates in some parts of the state, said the policy was good for the growth and economic development of the state.

According to him, people who do not have enough money to embark on building projects of their own can have something to serve as a stopgap for them to own a house and pay it back over a period of time.

“Now that people subscribe to this kind of arrangement and access these facilities, the pressure on the government to make houses available will be reduced.

Also, building projects by these developers will boost the economy of the state because artisans such as bricklayers, welders, and carpenters will be employed, as will suppliers of building materials such as sand, wood, and other building materials within the state, thus helping individuals and the state economy as well.

Eventually, when the houses are ready, owners will pay the tenancy rate, which is revenue for the government.

So it is a good thing; that’s the reason the government embraced the policy.”

Olanrewaju further reiterated the commitment of the Makinde-led administration toward the welfare of the state workforce and the people of the state in general.

According to him, the government has since increased housing loans for civil servants, having realized that housing loans before then weren’t enough for any civil servant to get the kind of building that they wanted.

“But for other people who are not civil servants and can’t access housing loans meant for civil servants, they can access houses that are funded by the private developers; that’s why the government is going into partnership with private developers.

“With these, every aspect of society is being taken care of, both civil servants and those who are on their own,” he said.

Also,Prince Adelaja Adeoye, the Chief Executive Officer of a private developer, Fendini Homes, who recently entered into a partnership with the government, told NAN the collaboration was to build 400 units of houses in Ibadan, the state capital.

Adeoye said the Rayfield Gardens City Estate at Alao-Akala GRA Olodo Road, Ibadan, occupied 22 hectares of land and was a public-private partnership project with the state government via the Oyo State Investment Public and Private Agency (OYSIPPA).

He said the core mandate of the project was to develop decent housing estates for interested people in Oyo State and outside the state.

He added that its major focus was to provide quality housing development for the people of the state in line with the agreement reached with the state government.

“Our estate must be standard, the first of its kind in the state, because we have both residential and commercial property within the estate.

“At the commercial wing, there will be a three-star hotel, shopping malls, offices complexes, Automated Teller Machine galleries, banking centers, and recreation centers where economic activities will be activated, while the residential wing will be mainly for the 400 housing units.

“It is going to be a smart estate, technology-driven, that will prove to the world that we have what it takes to have a standard estate in Oyo State,” he said.

Adelaja said the completion of the 400 units would not only reduce the housing deficit in the state but also boost the state economy.

He assured the government and the people of Oyo State that his firm would deliver on the mandate and make it a real estate destination of choice in the state.