The Nation Newspaper

Category: Building & Properties

  • ‘Provide enabling environment for recycling firms’

    The Government has been urged to provide an enabling environment for recycling companies.

    The Executive Director of Lexsz Plastics, a recyling firm, Oba Olufemi Akowe, made the call at its office on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

    He said the $8 million firm, if supported, could feed not only its parent company in China but also the West African sub-region.

    At a parley with The Nation, Akowe said since the company’s inception in 2011, it has empowered many individuals who supply materials to feed its factory.

    “We rely on individuals who go round the cities and towns picking wastes and  later sell to us. We also help the governments in some South West states to clear the state dump sites and even pay their agencies.

    “With four production lines refining and processing, Lexsz is a leader in the entire West Africa  and the largest plastics recycling enterprise. Our production scale of PET bottles and preforms per year amounted to over 100,000 tons to meet the major chemical Yangtze River Delta region of China class enterprise demand for a large number of raw materials,” he stated.

    Akowe said the company generates its electricity.

    “At Lexsz Plastics, the growth and development of the plastics is our concern. We are ready to invest in this market to become a market leader. There is nothing wrong in becoming the major market leader in this sector. We believe very strongly in the growth and development of the Nigerian economy and we are poised to take due advantage of the potential in this market,” he said.

    He said with over 10,000 local workers, the company’s products not only save a lot of energy and resources, but also effective for environmental protection areas, urging the government to provide a conducive business environment, especially on infrastructure, so that businesses can flourish and attract more foreign direct investments.

    Furthermore, he said the company was the first to achieve modern enterprises management, scientific management, and quality for its products.

    Akowe said: “In 2011, we passed the ISSO 9001 quality management system certification of advanced production equipment and sound management system. Our operations are powered by IPP initiative with gas turbine from the Nigeria Natural Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). As we play a leading role in the plastics sector, we will further continue to explore other potential areas of investments in the Nigeria economy.”

    He however lamented some inhibitive policies that are affecting recycling firms. He listed these as multiple taxation and the dearth of infrastructure.

    He asked the government to provide an enabling environment for businesses.

    According to him, if the government could appreciate the huge number of employees in the sector, its agencies would treat them better.

  • Prioritise mass housing development, Buhari told

    Some operators in the housing and construction industry have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take housing, especially mass housing, serious.

    The experts told select reporters in Lagos that the President had not done much in reducing the housing deficit, despite his other achievements.

    Former Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Markinde Ogunleye, suggested that Buhari should constitute a high-powered committee to look into the problem bedeviling the sector and fashion a road map.

    Admitting that the government had set up a committee on housing, Ogunleye added that it could be fused into the new one if it comes on stream.

    He advised that the committee should comprise professionals.

    Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Lagos Chapter Mr Adelaja Adekanmbi,  called for a review of the Federal Government housing policy.

    Adekanmbi urged Buhari to remember his campaign promise to make housing affordable, noting that his administration did not do much in the period under review in that direction.

    He noted that the deficit in the housing sector was worrisome, adding that the government should address the matter quickly.

    He said: “President Buhari should without any further delay take a drastic action in the provision of mass housing for Nigerians who are in dire need of low-cost houses.’’

    Former Chairman, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS),  Mr Olayinka Omotosho, urged the government to allow more private developers to be involved in the housing sector.

    According to him, there are thousands of houses in major cities that are not affordable to many Nigerians because the houses were built by profit-oriented private investors.

    He canvassed the need for the government to provide an enabling environment for private operators.

  • $50k grants available for property innovation in Nigeria

    Social entrepreneurs, community based organisations and NGOs in Nigeria and other African countries can access a grant of up $50,000 to implement an idea to address the problems of tenure and property security in African cities.

    The grant is being administered by Cities Alliance, which is focused on helping cities deliver sustainable development in partnership with the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS).

    Read Also: ICPC seizes 12 landed property in Abuja

    A statement by Cities Alliance noted that participants have until March 14 to submit proposals on innovative solutions for improving tenure security and land and property rights in any African country online at https://tinyurl.com/secure-tenure-form2019.

    Proposals should be submitted with project budget sheet; and legal registration certificate of the organisation applying for the grant.

    The statement noted that entries would be judged based on innovation, scope, gender mainstreaming, partnership, local leadership, scalability and other criteria.

  • Architects call for investigation into collapse of buildings in Abia

    The Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and Architect Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) have called on Abia Government to investigate the causes of collapsed buildings in the state.

    The Abia Chapters of NIA and ARCON jointly made the call in Aba, during their fact-finding mission to the sites of recent collapsed buildings in the state on Saturday.

    The associations spoke through the state chairman of NIA, Mr Ikechi Ochulo and Mr Dan Nwnkwo, representative of ARCON.

    Ochulo said that the call was necessitated by the spate of building collapses recently recorded in Aba, which claimed some lives and injured others.

    He said that the fact-finding mission had taken the associations to the Town Planning Authorities of Aba South, Aba North and Osisioma Local Government Areas.

    He said the mission was aimed at ascertaining the authenticity of the architects involved in the collapsed building and how they got their building approvals.

    Ochulo urged the state government to investigate the development and give punishments to builders who cut corners during construction.

    He expressed concern over activities of quacks in the state and wondered how they succeed claiming to be architects, getting their drawings approved by Town Planning Authorities without licence and seal of approval as stipulated by the law governing the profession.

    “We have a situation of when collapses happen in this state, no panel, no investigation takes place.

    “On the part of government, no panel of investigation is set up for culprits to be brought to book so that others will learn.

    “That’s why we plead with the government not to sweep these recent incidents under the carpet like the previous ones. Things must be done properly to help everyone.

    “We have procedures for checkmating this evil. ARCON has made provisions that before Town Planners approve any drawing, they must see the seal of a registered and licenced architect.

    “There’s a security stamp we put on the drawing of every true professional architect, “he said.

    He, however, regretted that the drawings of the collapsed buildings which they saw at the Town Planning Office had none of all these things.

    “This tells you where the problems are coming from. These are part of the things we are seeing that make us call for serious synergy between us and the Town Planning Authorities.

    “The presence of these quacks is a great problem to our profession and the society and when there is a problem like this and we continue with it, we stand the chance of a greater loss ” he said.

    Chief Dan Nwankwo who spoke for ARCON  said the problem in Abia and the nation at large, was  failure of thepeople to engage professionals.

    “So, we are urging the people of this state to form the habit of using professional architects and engineers in their projects.

    “If they do that, there will be no collapse. Over and above that, they should also accept the advice of these professionals during construction so that the building will stand the test of time”, he said.(NAN)

  • ‘Real estate funds panacea for housing shortage’

    ONLY real estate funds can address housing shortage in the real estate sector, a report has said.

    FSDH Merchant Bank stated this in its report titled: ‘’Real estate fund — Investment vehicle to address housing shortage in Nigeria’’, undertaken by its research arm, FSDH Research.

    The report observed that there was a significant shortage of affordable housing in the country estimated at about 20 millions.

    ‘’This means that Nigeria needs to build between close to 20 million housing units to ensure that Nigerians have this basic human need,” it added.

    In monetary terms, Nigeria might require between N170trillion and N200 trillion to bridge the housing gap if each unit costs N10million.

    It said: “Given the rising population in the country, the housing shortage keeps increasing.

    ‘’Meanwhile, the developments in the real estate sector of the  economy, which is where activities that will close the housing shortage will take place, have not been impressive with economic activities in the real estate sector consistently contracting since Q1 201.6.”

    The report suggested that investors in the retail and high-networth segment could create wealth in real estate through regularly investing in a Real Estate Fund (REF) without investing directly in the brick and mortar.

    Explaining REF, the report noted that it is an investment vehicle that pools resource to invest in real estate; therefore, allowing individual investors to partake in the benefits of the underlying properties.

    The report further explained that REFs are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), just like stocks/shares and could be purchased through stockbrokers, just like other stocks/shares.

    The report added that every REF must have a fund manager that manages the fund to ensure the best return to shareholders and a good example of real estate working for the investors.

    It said: “The holder of a REF will earn a share of the income from the real estate investment through dividends without actually having to buy, manage or finance any housing projects. It is required to distribute at least 90 per cent of their taxable income as dividend. As a result, it provides constant income for shareholders.”

    The report said there was no minimum amount to invest in a REF, adding that it was suitable for all investors.

    The report, however, regretted that REFs have not gained much popularity in terms of the numbers available and their size relative to the size of the economy.

    It explained that there were only three REFs listed on the NSE, which are Union Homes Real Estate Investment Trust, Skye Shelter Fund and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust.

    According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the total value of the assets of all three funds stood at N43.74billion as of January 18, 2019; this represents about 0.03 per cent of the GDP, it added.

    The research noted that the assets  recorded weak growth over the last five years, perhaps due to the slow activity in the sector.

    On why the real estate instrument seems not to be growing or gaining attention, the  FSDH report said the inadequate information on how REFs work and how investors could take advantage of the investment opportunities in them might also explain why REFs were not growing as they should.

    It stated: “FSDH Research believes REFs can be used as one of the measures to boost activity in the real estate sector. As patronage for REFs in Nigeria increases, more funds would be available to buy and develop more real estate properties. Consequently, the real estate sector would begin to experience increased activity.”

  • How technology can help real estate recovery

    Last year, the real estate industry witnessed a downturn due to  several factors ranging from government macro economic policies to over-supply in commercial, retail as well as inappropriate supply in the residential sub-sector.

    The development also impacted negatively on the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The latest GDP figure shows a negative growth of 2.68 per cent at the end of October, 2018. Thus, the Q3’s contribution to GDP dropped from 7.09 per cent in Q2 to 6.88 per cent in Q3.

    In the economic and investment front, the HSBC Bank and a Swiss multinational investment bank, UBS, left the country. This did not send the right signals to the investor’ community.

    A report by HSBC pointed out that the investor spend has been affected by the political uncertainties devolving from the elections, adding that it was closing down its representative office, because it is unsure of the government’s ability to turn the economy around.

    The report also suggested that deficient infrastructure and unemployment contributed to the moderated forecast growth rate of 2.5per cent for the year.

    Accusing HSBC of corruption, the Federal Government also regarded the report as politically  skewed.

    In all this, JP Morgan recorded a turnover of $45billion in the Importers &Exporters window in Q2 2018 and plans to expand its African operations.

    Players at the stock market who haven’t liquidated their investments, however, woke up last October to a rise in inflation figures, mindful that it could further complicate investing in quarter one of this year.

    The influence of politics, governance and markets’ performance continues to hold as portfolio investors looked to cut their losses, opting for investment opportunities in Eastern Europe. Estimated losses in the equities market were in excess of N1 trillion for last year.

    Experts, however, said the downturn in the real estate industry was mis-judged by operators than government policies and lack of infrastructure.

    According to them, addressing the mismatch of supply versus actual local demand and uptake in the housing, retail, office and hospitality sectors would herald a new vista for the sector.

    They pointed out the need for the deployment of technology to make the country’s real estate industry more investable, increase liquidity to drive greater home ownership, as major talking point for 2019.

    The Managing Director/CEO, Global Property & Facilities International Limited Nigeria (PFI), Dr. Mohammed Balogun, said for the sector to contribute more to national development, there was the need for restructuring, not by the government but by practitioners themselves.

    He added that the industry was plagued with a structural problem that stakeholders could deal with, without the government, saying the sector witnessed a rising trend for studio apartments as investment property.

    He said: “Largely driven by developers’ response to the millennial market’s demands, blue-chip executives and expatriates are also opting for studio apartments, investors who buy bigger houses for investment purposes are being advised to purchase multiple studio apartments to sustain portfolio cash flow. Factors influencing demand for studio apartments amongst millennials are better space management, functionality and cost of managing residential units.”

    Balogun wants stakeholders to come up with initiatives, which will help to weather the murky waters.

    “We need to do some differently to get a better result; the recent procedure will not lead to the expected outcome because trends are changing”, he said.

    According to him, occupiers of luxury apartments were ready to pay a 15 per cent premium when offered quality facility management.

    He stressed the need for professionals to advise their clients appropriately so that they can make wise investment decision and not to be too profit minded.

    For 2019, Balogun said being an election year, the industry would continue to slow down till April when budget was likely to be passed.

    “However, there will be the usual lag between economic recovery and market recovery but real estate, which has suffered from a sharp supply- demand imbalance, widening vacancy rates and falling rents, looks close to bottoming out,” he noted.

    In a recent KPMG Survey on 130 real estate decision makers from 36 countries, eight per cent of respondents see digital and technological innovation as an opportunity but only 24 per cent have a digital and technology strategy.

    For instance, the way properties are conceived and built; the way they are researched, marketed and sold; and, most importantly, what they offer to tenants in the way of energy-efficient, flexible, adaptable smart functionality are all becoming critical factors when assessing the future viability of investment properties and establishing sustainable long-term investment criteria.

    Everything in real estate from how retail, industrial and office processes are conducted to the way buildings are designed, built and operated are now transformed in profound ways.

    In developed countries, residential real estate is already well along in their digital transformation.

    Proptech pioneer and Chief Executive Officer of a new market entrant, ZAMA, Abdulhakeem Sadiq, said the increasing role and use of Proptech is a boon for the regional sector.

  • Developer urges govt on housing policies

    Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN),  Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter Chairman, Mr. Andrew Elerewe, has urged the winner of the  presidential election to come up with sustainable and implementable housing policies.

    In a statement made available to The Nation he said investors in the  sector want the government to evolve realistic housing policies for the sector.

    He said: “We have quite a number of them but the good news is that they are all resolvable. We all need to come to the table and they also need to carry us along in whatever policies they need to take.”

    Elerewe, who is also the Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AIBEN Investment & Properties Limited, berated an FCT Administration policy prohibiting the issuance of approvals to all area councils title holders as far-reaching without consulting stakeholders or developers.

    According to him, when such policies were made, they have a far-reaching effect on the economy. The implication, he said, was that those who approve couldn’t go further  and those who have titles couldn’t sell them as investment and then the land is stuck.

    He further stated that the procedure doesn’t make sense and that the government needs to be businesslike.

    Elerewe advised the government on the need to desist from formulating policies that keep real estate investors in the dark.

  • ‘Gridlock lowers properties value in Apapa’

    Apapa, the town hosting the nation’s foremost port, may have gained notoriety which may stay with it for much longer except something urgent is done.

    Business operators in the axis have not only lost their businesses to the traffic gridlock, but others narrowly make it home every day.

    An economist Prof. Pat Utomi, has said properties in Apapa, are half their original market value.

    Utomi, in a lecture he delivered on the decay in the transport sector at an investiture of the newly elected President of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria, Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, stated that the fall in value of properties in Apapa was traceable to the collapse of the transport sector.

    Utomi noted that in the 1970s and 80s, the evacuation of goods and services from the ports in Apapa, which was by rail lines provided a unique relationship between commercial activities around the area and the residents.

    He, however, said the commercial activities around those towns and villages have collapsed because of the decay in the rail sector.

    Bemoaning the gridlock in the Apapa area, Utomi called on professionals to work with the government in ensuring that intermodal transportation was achieved, as it will also help the economy to develop.

  • Motorists, OPS lament return of trucks to Lagos roads

    Lagosians thought the end had come to the traffic gridlock on its major roads  with the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari two week ago on a campaign tour.

    But like a flash in the pan, the traffic nightmare has since returned.

    Their joy and relief was  short-lived as these tankers have returned to the roads, causing stressful traffic and frustrating ride on road users.

    The frustration is not limited to commuters alone, but other businesses, such as real estate in Apapa and environs have fallen victims as people are moving out of the area in droves. They cited poor business as a result of lack of patronage, unhealthy living conditions and increased rate of accidents.

    Motor bikes, which serve as veritable alternatives are causing incalculable damage and losses to their riders and passengers. The roads have been so terrible that no matter how careful a motorist or a biker is, he is not guaranteed a smooth and safe drive or ride, as he will try to avoid potholes and ditches to the detriment of other road users.

    The  Organised Private  Sector (OPS), which also expressed grave concern at the return of the tankers to the roads, especially areas leading to Apapa Wharf  and ports, raised concerns on the current dilapidated state of roads leading to traffic gridlock. They said the challenge on road is having debilitating impacts on trade facilitation, cost of cargo transportation and overhead cost of businesses.

    They frowned at the fact that traffic jam on the road currently hampers access to the sea ports, paralyses economic activities, engenders loss of man hour, causes enormous wastage of fuel,  brings about huge increase in cargo dwell time, causes preventable accidents and heightens security risk.

    They spoke in a statement by Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Director-General, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir on behalf of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA), National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) and National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI).

    It read in part: “Most worrisome is that fact that this challenge is also leading to heavy revenue loss to government,  overly too long turnaround time for delivery of cargoes, huge transportation cost, avoidable raw materials stock-out and the inability of companies to meet set production targets.”

    The statement lamented that trucks hired to carry cargoes cannot have easy access to the ports to lift or deliver cargoes and those lifting cargoes cannot come out of the port because of the long hours in the traffic. “It now takes between five to eight weeks for our members to take delivery of their cargoes of vital raw materials,” it said.

    These port users now pay between N350, 000  and N400, 000 as cargo transport cost as against the standard rate of N100, 000 per cargo.

    Ajayi-Kadir, in the statement, argued that the current condition of the road with tankers littering the breath and length of the metropolis is not good for business, but hinders profitability and will eventually erode the reasonable progress government has made in improving the operating environment.

    To the OPS, it is appauling that the ports being the gateway to international trade and flow of cargoes cannot have world class infrastructure, access roads and facilities comparable to those in China, Dubai, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore to mention a few.

    He called on the government to speed up actions that will proffer permanent solutions to the challenge, set up a taskforce made up of representatives of all stakeholders to strategise on ways of resolving the challenge.

    Ajayi-Kadir also suggested the need to immediately free the roads and ease the current pressure on all the stakeholders operating on the maritime value chain.

    A tanker driver, Mutiu Ismail recalled what happened on the day President Buhari came to Lagos. He said they were sent to their parks, which they knew would not last as their daily existence depends on their visibility on the roads. He said they have little or no choice than to pack the way they do to seek visibility and prospect for customers, who either want to lift containers from the ports or export their goods.

    Asked if his association knows the dangers they pose to motorists he responded that this is a case of survival and that the government and other relevant stakeholders know the solution to the problem but has refused to take the bull by the horn.

    He said though a section of the public may have seen them as nuisance, he alleged that they are being made to part with sizeable amount of money on a daily basis by various security agencies, who claim ignorant of what the other arm is doing.

    Another tanker driver, who does not want his name in print, said the public should rather blame the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for the chaos, claiming that they only work for two hours everyday and wondered how it should allowed by government.

    He said: “When this public institution work for two hours and shut their gates, these containers cannot get inside the port, and in the process they block tanker drivers, who are on their way to various tank farms in Apapa port and environs. When these containers block tanker drivers, will our members climb over them to go into the tank farms?” He added that setting up task force is not the solution to the problem, but just a palliative measure.

    Mrs. Yemi George, who works on Victoria Island and lives in Surulere, lamented the stress goes through everyday to navigate the tankers on the road and bridges. She said she is not the only in this precarious situation and pleaded with government and all stakeholders to consider the plight of commuters who are constrained to go through this on a daily basis.

  • ‘Maintenance will increase demand for building materials’

    Demand for the supply of building materials such as wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools is set to rise following the recent approval of National Maintenance Framework for public buildings by Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who spoke on the importance of the approval , said the scheme was aimed at ensuring that public buildings are protected and maintained to save resources for new projects.

    On what the approval means, the Minister said it is a breakthrough in the nation’s quest for maintenance culture. He said after decades of agonising about lack of maintenance, the Buhari administration had chosen to act because the records did not indicate that any such policy decision had previously been taken at the Federal level.

    He said:”The decision was provoked by a memorandum from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing that challenged the conventional thinking that Nigeria does not have a maintenance culture. The memorandum argued and FEC agreed that maintenance of infrastructure; whether public or private, is not a cultural issue, but an economic one.

    “In one of our sample buildings, leading up to the memorandum to FEC, we found out that out of 63 air-conditioning units, 11 required replacement or repair. We also identified windows, doors, tiles, roofing materials, plastering work that required replacement or repair.

    “The maintenance programme is then developed from these assessments as to what jobs need to be done to restore the building to fitness, what needs to be replaced and what needs to be repaired. This is the basis for the award of the maintenance contract following the existing procurement law.”

    He explained that the award of contract would not only drive employment for artisans, but would also drive demand of manufacturing and supply of parts like wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools, in addition to those of cleaning items like detergent, polish and varnish.

    “This is the economy that we see ahead as we set out to implement this approval starting from buildings, and as I said, and extending to roads, rail, bridges etc. as we progress,” he said.