Warns contractors against abandoning work
President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope affordable housing programme has been flagged off in Delta State by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, and Deputy Governor, Monday Onyeme, who performed the groundbreaking ceremony.
Through the scheme, which is expected to be completed in three months, the President intends to provide decent and affordable housing to all Nigerians, create jobs, boost economic development, empower lives, and deliver hope to Nigerians.
According to the minister, 250-housing estate comprising 50 units of one-bedroom semi-detached bungalows, 150 units of two-bedroom semi-detached bungalows, and 50 units of three-bedroom semi-detached bungalows would be built in Ekpan community, Uvwie local council, in the outskirts of Warri, where free land for the project has been provided.
The contractor of the project, Goodnews Creative Ideas Limited, reputed for its expertise in building houses on swampy terrain, promised to deliver the project within the time frame given by the ministry.
The minister, in a chat with journalists, disclosed that the groundbreaking exercise for the renewed hope cities and estates, is going on all over the country after it was launched in February with the commissioning of a 3,112-housing unit in Karsana, Abuja, by the President.
He said: “Under phase one of this programme, we plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. This includes Seven Renewed Hope Cities that will have between 500 and 1,000 housing units per site in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while the Renewed Hope Estates will have 250 units per site in the remaining 30 states.
“The funding would come from the N50 billion 2023 Supplementary Budget.”
The remaining states not captured under the supplementary budget would be covered under the 2024 budget of the ministry if they provided the land at no cost to ease affordability.
Meanwhile, the minister has declared that the Renewed Hope Housing Agenda would not tolerate abandoned work. He also warned that any contractor that collects government’s money for housing projects must do the work, emphasising that the ministry is desperate to give Nigerians value for money.
