ESVARBON urges FG to regulate housing production process

THE Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria ( ESVARBON) has urged the Federal government to regulate the entire housing production process, especially rising costs of cement and other building materials in the country.

ESVARBON chairman, Gersh Henshaw, who made the call at the foundationlaying ceremony for the board’s multi- billion fivestorey corporate head office, in Jahi area of Abuja, lamented that despite the nation's economic woes due to COVID- 19 pandemic, the cost of rent is on the rise.

Henshaw said though the government cannot control the cost of rent, it can regulate the entire process of housing production. “As a professional body, we have tried to advocate on behalf of the people. This is not the best time to increase rent.

“Government can control cost of cement, rods and other building materials and encourage local production, but cannot control end products; government should regulate the entire process of housing production."

He frowned on incidences of double allocation in the federal capital territory, and recalled the trouble ESVARBON encountered when they discovered that their plot of land was allocated to someone else. “Our colleagues in government have seen this as a problem not only to us but several others, we have only been lucky that we were able to step up our game and stopped it.

The ESVARBON chairman described the foundation laying ceremony as historic, noting that it marks the actualisation of the dream and aspiration of the organisation as a professional regulator.

Henshaw pledged to give priority to the project within his three- year tenure. “We will endeavour to do all that is within our ability, with the cooperation of the consultant and contractor to realise this project,” he added.