Housing
By Lilian Chukwu
Lagos, March 14, 2018 (NAN) The Women Association of Quantity Surveyors of Nigeria (WAQSN) on Wednesday called for active participation of the private sector in housing delivery.
Mrs Ronke Oyelami, Chairman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that low involvement of the private sector was a major causative factor for the nation’s housing gap.
According to Oyelami, until the private sector is encouraged to fully participate in housing delivery, the housing deficit may continue to live on.
She said that the major way to solve the housing challenges could be through the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) scheme.
Oyelami said that the breach of contractual agreement could hinder the success of the PPP scheme.
She said that government sometimes failed to pay the local contractors and the private firms.
“For the scheme to work, government needs to create confidence among investors, respect contractual agreements with private firms and provide special incentives and reliefs to encourage private investments.
“There is need for creation of a more attractive, open and robust environment that encourages private investment by creating predictability in the procurement process,” she said.
The association chairman said that most developed countries adopted the PPP scheme to bridge their housing challenges.
Oyelami attributed the high cost of houses to high cost of building materials and other challenges encountered by developers in the course of housing developments.
“If cost of building can be highly subsidised and other challenges tackled, private investors will be able to build at a low cost to rent at a cheap price,” she said.
Oyelami enjoined partners in PPP to convert some percentages of their equity holdings and profits into the provision of low-income housing as part of their social responsibilities. (NAN)
LUC/IKU/GOK
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Edited by Tayo Ikujuni/Olagoke Olatoye