Estate developer speaks on challenges facing housing sector in Imo

CHUKWUDI OBASI, A STRUCTURAL engineer and the managing director and chief executive officer of OBCHUKSUM Engineering Nigeria Limited, say the state is lagging behind in housing estates development when compared with other towns and cities in the South-east.

He stated that the continued status of Owerri the capital as a non-commercial town is a big factor that is hindering estate investors from investing in the housing sector in the state.

“Normally there should be government’s own efforts first in many areas; there should be government’s own estates also and individuals too.

“And before you invest in housing estate, you as a person must look for the viability of the place. If you come to Imo State, you find out that it is not a commercial area where you have a lot of companies, business men, and investors in so many businesses and manufacturing companies,” he said.

The state, he said, is a civil servants’ town where people are based on their monthly salary, “therefore, if people are based on their monthly salary, you must build an estate, which they will pay by instalment, and the house must be cheaper for them.

“So for an individual buyer and as a government worker to take such a thing, it becomes difficult and it takes a good number of years before the payment is completed. It is not healthy for an investor. Therefore if you want many housing estates in Imo, it means that the state government will fund it “.

Another serious factor is that there are no good and accessible roads constructed in places by government where lands would be purchased to build housing estates in the state.

“For you to get that land, it must be accessible, acces-housing sible in the sense that there must be a way to it. But when you come to Imo State you find out that all the places that have not been developed there are no roads,” he said.

He said as a developer, the land should be bought in areas that have not been developed or in a developing area where a plot of land could be bought at a cheaper price when compared with areas where development has already taken place.

Obasi noted that where there is no road, security will not be there and no individual will be thinking to go and buy land or live in a place that is not secured.

So for Imo State to have massive housing estate areas “it means that government itself will do it.