The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning, Mr Toyin Ayinde, weekend, laid the foundation stone to flag off the construction of a N5 billion shopping mall located within the expansive Golden Tullip Hotel complex in the Festac -Amuwo-Odofin axis.

Indigenous constructions companies in Nigeria have been warned to desist from recruiting foreign labourers as this is against the tenets of building local capacities.

As part of its urban renewal efforts, the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project, LMDGP, has embarked on slum upgrading projects in Mushin, Itire and Ijeshatedo communities. The projects include upgrading of 30 roads and drains, provision of boreholes as well as upgrading of primary schools.

ABUJA: In a move to address the problem of housing deficit facing the nation, the Federal Government has asked Nigerians, especially those in the informal sector to form cooperatives societies so as to make it easier for them to access loans and houses.

As part of its efforts to reduce joblessness in the country, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, said it would employ the services of 17,000 youths under the Subsidy Re-Investment Empowerment Programme, SURE-P who will ensure the continuous maintenance of Federal roads across the country.

In a bid to ensure transparency in the procurement of government-owned projects, the Federal Government signed the Public Procurement Act into law in 2007. The Act established the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP as the regulatory authority responsible for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement, harmonizing the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria.

Against the backdrop of housing shortfall estimated at over 16 million units, a former military President, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), has called on the government to provide affordable shelter to the vulnerable and low-income group.

As professional bodies intensify the clamour for sustainable national development, the Nigerian Academy of Engineering has called for a strategy that would transfer technology either by domesticating imported technical-know-how or by moving the outputs of technological endeavours from the National Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation System.

Stakeholders in the Nigerian real estate sector have applauded Nigerite over its championship initiative in promoting dry construction as a new innovation in the construction industry in the 21st Century.

As part of new strategy to deliver its products to customers with greater ease, Eternit Limited, Nigeria’s leading producer of roofing and ceiling products, has unveiled plans to open two business offices in Abuja and Port-Harcourt.

Lokoja, the Kogi State capital is one of the ten cities selected by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat for its City Resilience Profiling Programme CRPP. The announcement was made last week in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Ogun State last week blazed the trail in the fight to mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change with the flagging off of its “going green’ advocacy campaign in Abeokuta, the state capital.

…decries high cost of construction in Nigeria
The Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN, weekend, blamed the current high cost of construction projects on the exclusion of quantity surveyors from performing their cost functions. The construction cost experts claimed that such projects have become instruments for money laundering and corruption.

MESSRS Omais Investment Nigeria Limited, developers of the N600 million Trinity shopping plaza located along Awolowo Way in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, have promised to deliver the project in June as stipulated in the contractual agreement which pegged the completion period of the mall at 18 months.

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS is to begin action plan on the construction of the 1,028kilometers Lagos-Abidjan road after presenting its report at the African Union summit next month

The Federal government has promised to provide the enabling environment and level playing ground for operators in the mining and steel sub- sector of the economy.

THE 24th session of the UN-Habitat Governing Council ended in Nairobi Kenya, at the weekend, with Nigeria playing a critical role in the effort to build enduring partnerships to tackle the global urbanisation challenge.

THE Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Kadri Hamzat has identified some of the challenges militating against the development of roads infrastructure in the state.

RESIDENTS of Lagos State have expressed apprehension over the readiness of the state government to combat the challenge of heavy rainfall with attendant severe flooding this year following 2013 prediction by Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET .

The Lagos State Government last week, gave reasons for the delay in the take-off of its home ownership mortgage scheme, HOMS. The Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje explained that the government wants to build enough houses for the people before flagging off the full implementation of the scheme.

First City Monument Bank FCMB Plc, in collaboration with the Isolo Local Council Development Area, has inaugurated a special Climate Change Unit and Green Brigade in the area.

The Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN, weekend, blamed the current high cost of construction projects on the exclusion of quantity surveyors from performing their cost functions. The construction cost experts claimed that such projects have become instruments for money laundering and corruption.