The Executive Director in charge of Engineering Services at the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency FERMA, Mr Hassan Mohammed has assured that the multi-million Naira 80 tonne per hour asphalt plant being constructed by the agency at its Ijora, Lagos office would be ready by the end of June, 2012.

A total of fourteen investors are vying for the Federal capital territory’s land swap scheme geared towards the provision of affordable housing in the territory. Top on the list is Nigeria’s Dangote Group Plc and Edimo Gruppo of Italy.

Against the backdrop of criticisms that have trailed the ongoing development of Eko Atlantic City on an expansive parcel of land reclaimed from the Lagos Bar-Beach, the Lagos State Government and South Energyx Limited, developers of the nine million square metres city, weekend, rose in stout defence of the scheme, saying the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, shows that the envisaged dangers have been taken care of.

The Lagos State government generated about 3.8 billion from the Land Use Charge last year.

Although the administration of Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State is in its second term in office, the government has in recent time been displaying a sense of urgency, as if to make up for lost time, in providing the much talked-about democracy dividends to the people of the state.

The growth of slums has become a recurring decimal in virtually all parts of the country. The scenario is aggravated by the high rental charges and the desire by most Nigerians to live in their own property.

Worried by Nigeria’s huge housing deficit, which UN statistics put at between 16 -17 million units, Lagos-based Architects have called for the construction of mass housing in the urban centres to bridge the huge gap which requires the construction of 720,000 housing units per annum in the next 10 years.

A major player in the building materials sector, Messrs Nigerite Ltd, has joined the campaign for the introduction of renewable energy to reduce the worrisome effects of climate change and global warming being experienced across Nigeria.

COncerned about spate of collapsed buildings, abandoned projects and proliferation of substandard materials in the construction industry, the President of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria APBN, Mr. Segun Ajanlekoko, has called on members of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild BCPG, to take a major step towards resolving challenges with relevant regulatory agencies for more proactive actions in the industry.

Three years after the Zamfara Lead poisoning disaster, a non-governmental group NGO – Sustainable Research Action for Environmental Development SRADev has raised fresh concerns over the harmful effects of the disaster on the environment and lives of the people of Zamfara State.