Enugu State government is building low cost houses with flexible payment plan in all the 17 LGAs in the state. In this interview, the General Manager, Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, Mr. Agu Chukwuemelie, bares his mind on the plan.

What is the Housing Corporation doing to cushion the effect of housing deficit in the state?

Since my assumption of office almost ten months ago, the corporation has embarked upon the development of more than four new estates namely: Heritage, Transparency, Rangers Phases (1 & Ii) etc, as a strategy to reduce the housing deficit in Enugu State. The corporation is also maintaining  existing estates that number more than fifty.

What level of support is the corporation getting from the state government and the House Assembly especially in areas that require legislative therapy to aid the mandate of the corporation?

The state government and the House of Assembly are giving the Corporation the necessary support by way of the legislation necessary  for land acquisitions, and executive approval it to execute its projects.

People want to know your efforts to build low cost houses that are affordable?

The corporation has plan for the development of low income housing at strategic locations in Enugu and other LGAs in the state. These houses are made affordable via the opportunity provided by the National Housing Fund (NHF) and the flexible payment plan of the Corporation. The house types include one bedroom, two bedrooms and three bedrooms, fully and semi    – detached bungalows.

There are complaints that some of the housing estates have poor social amenities. What is responsible  and what are you doing to remedy the situation?

The state of infrastructure and social amenities in our estates are not that poor. You can visit the states  to confirm this. We have in recent times built modern estates of international standards. This is attested to by the value most of the properties in the open market. However, some of our pre-war Estates like the Riverside estates are being programmed for rehabilitation.

What is your corporation doing to ensure even spread of housing estates in the state especially in major cities of Nsukka, Awgu, 9th Mile Corner among others?

Already we have done an estate at Nsukka Palm Beach Estate, Obukpa, Network Estate, Nike, etc, and previously developed some houses at the local government area headquarters. Presently, the corporation plans to embark on rural housing estates in places like Ugwuoba/ Agwu Oheagu, Owo, etc.

Our major hindrance in this regard is land acquisition, which the state government is helping us to solve gradually.