By Yinka  Kolawole
Lagos State government has developed a new framework aimed at enhancing Private-Public- Participation (PPP) in the development of affordable housing in the state.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mr. Jimoh Ajao, disclosed this while highlighting the achievement of the Fashola administration in the area of housing development. According to him, “the new framework is to ensure that there is progress in the quest for making accommodation available and affordable to the middle and low income brackets.”

He explained that the PPP arrangement is geared towards removing bottlenecks, thereby, strengthening private sector participation in housing delivery process. Under the arrangement, he noted, that the government will provide the land for the project, while the developer injects their funds to build the houses. He added that the profit made by government from the partnership would be invested in the Lagos HOMS project to fund construction of social housing scheme.

Ajao said new housing schemes being developed across the state are targeted at middle and low-income earners, under the state’s Lagos HOMS Scheme. He said approval has been given for construction of more low cost housing estates in the state to address the challenge of housing deficit especially among the lower income earners in the society.

He declared that government decided to partner with the private sector in housing delivery in order to increase the number of housing delivery in the state. He said the ministry has developed a template for appraising interested private developers as well as facilitating necessary sign-off from relevant ministries and government agencies on behalf of these developers.

Ajao noted that the scheme was initially planned to commence with existing stock of houses provided by the Ministry of Housing, “but to ensure that it is sustainable and homogeneous, prototype building was designed to be replicated all over the state and ensure provision of more houses to sustain it.”

The housing projects, according to Ajao, include 192 units of 1, 2, 3-bedroom apartments located in Igbogbo area of Ikorodu, near the existing Oba Adeboruwa Housing Estate, Igbogbo, Ikorodu; Gbagada Phase 2B, where six blocks of 72 different units are being cited, while another 72 units of 1, 2, 3-bedroom apartments is being located in Ikeja.

Similar house types are being planned in Iloro, in Agege and Rotimi Sotomiwa area of Ikorodu. He said the Igbogbo scheme was awarded last month and work has commenced, while the Gbagada Phase 2B was awarded in December 2011 and the 72 units Ikeja scheme was also awarded last month.