The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has canvassed the adoption of the public-private partnership (PPP) strategy by government in the provision of housing for the teeming populace in the country.

Director-General of LCCI, Mr. Muda Yussuf, asserted that the PPP model is required to adequately tackle the acute housing shortage in Nigeria. He was speaking during the contract signing ceremony between a developer and a construction firm for the development of an estate in Ogun State recently.

According to him, it has become obvious that government alone cannot tackle the nation’s housing problem, noting that the use of Public-Private Partnership provides the key to unlock the housing problem. “The concept today is about Private-Public Partnership (PPP). So the concept of PPP in housing delivery, I think it is a good thing and there is an element of that here.

Definitely government is not in a position to meet the entire housing needs of the populace. So there is a lot of room for the private sector to come in. And this is also what applies in other sectors, it is happening in the health sector, educational sector, where private initiatives go alongside public initiatives. It is a good development.

“Government should encourage private partnership because it cannot do it alone. Government cannot solve all the housing problems alone, so the concept of PPP is very critical to the delivery of housing to the people,”he said. According to Yususf, the partnership between the government and the private sector is particularly important because it will help bridge the housing deficit particularly the low and middle income levels, where there is a serious problem.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Propertymart, Mr. Adesope Adeyinka, said his company decided to sign a contract with PW Group, a building and civil engineering firm, to provide engineering services to its proposed estate- Propertymart Grenadines Homes within Citiview Estate, located at Arepo, Ogun State, based on the shared core values, integrity and excellence, between the two companies.

“PW has been able to show that it is a company of integrity and believes in excellence. And we know with them, value will be added to the investment of the stakeholders.

However our synergy is not constricted to PW Nigeria. To make sure that our product is affordable for all, we have partnership with Resort Savings, to make mortgage available for prospective customers and we are trying to work out something with Guarantee Trust Bank, to make sure that finance does not hold any challenge while in the process of the project,” he said.