PROPERTY FCT minister commissions Crown Realties estate in Durumi
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, Friday, commissioned a new estate named ‘Court Estate’ built by a developer, Crown Realties, at Durumi District of FCT.
The minister lauded the developer of the estate for his effort which will encourage FCT residents to rent and eventually own houses 15 years after occupying the building.
The FCT minister, who was represented by the FCDA Executive Secretary, Umar Gambo Jibrin, reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensuring the provision of adequate housing for the residents of the Federal Capital Territory.
Bello said the population of FCT had been growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually, stressing that the project was in line with the mandate of the administration to provide housing for residents especially at an affordable rate.
The minister stated that his administration was putting measures in place to ensure that past infractions that hindered the faithful execution of the mass housing policy by successive FCT Administrations were eliminated. This, he stressed, is with a view to ensuring strict adherence to laid down guidelines and guaranteeing the successful implementation of these laudable policies.
The minister lamented situations where estates are developed but remained unoccupied as a result of the high cost.
He said, “I am particularly happy to see that the whole estate was conceived with the lower income earners in mind, with an innovative programme called Lease-ToOwn, which I was told would allow your clients to own a house by leasing or renting the property over a 15 year period. This is a good idea which I must say is highly commendable and it is also in tune with the vision of the FCT Administration.”
“When the accelerated mass housing development was initiated by previous administrations in the FCT, it was intended to accommodate all strater of the society; low, medium and high income earners. Along the line however, a lot of things happened which derailed that vision and if you move round the estates in the city today, you will discover that most of them are empty because many of us cannot afford the very high cost being charged by the developers,” the minister added.
Bello noted that efforts are ongoing to ensure that such infractions do not occur in the future by ensuring strict adherence to laid down guidelines.
In his remark, the Chief Executive, Crown Realties Plc, Mr. Darl Uzu described the estate as a place to live a good life.
He said aside from the modern facilities and technology driven security system, the estate is built with a golf court and runs on 24hour power system.
According to him, the estate is reasonably affordable with flexible payment system terms which he also described as lease-to-own programme.
“The estate is the first golf estate in Abuja, borrowing from my chairman, that I know, with club house, garden, gym, wellness place and mini-mart for purchase of everyday items by residents. It has a programme that allows residents to pay rent and live up to 15 years and it becomes their own thereafter.”
Earlier in his address, the Chairman, Crown Realties Plc, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, said the company’s buildings have become a success story in Abuja and Lagos.
“Our Crown Estate in Lekki Lagos is still one of the largest private community estate in the Lekki Peninsula with more than 1000 family units built in the early 90s and still occupies a pride of place today,” he said.
Also speaking, Managing Director, Crown Realties Plc, Darl Uzu, revealed that the development involves 81 blocks of family detached units of four bedrooms each. He said that the 5.97 hectares luxury residential estate boasts of 24/7 power supply as well as technology driven security and communication systems.
“The estate houses 81 units of single family residential units built in phase 1 and 2,” he added.