The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Tuesday, revealed that there would be change in the policy direction of the Buhari’s administration in the settlement sector.
This, he said, would commence in the 2016 budget implementation, as the Federal Government would spend N10b to build low income housing estate in each of the state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It will be recalled that the Obasanjo’s administration upturned the policy of Shagari’s administration by declaring that government would no longer build houses for people to occupy, subsequently, he sold off all government houses built during Shagari era.
During Obasanjo government, the government through the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development was collaborating with the developers by providing lands for them to build ‘affordable’ housing estates. The policy direction that was replicated by both Ya’Adua and Jonathan governments.
However, Fashola unveiling Buhari’s administration agenda in the housing sector in Abuja, said there is need for the government to review the existing policy in the housing sector to address housing deficit in the country.
He said; “The Housing sector presents an enormous opportunity for positively impacting the economy to promote not only growth but inclusion.
“There have been a couple of National Housing policies and we intend to appraise the most current one to make changes only if necessary.
“Government will lead the aggressive intervention to increase supply, by undertaking construction of public housing and formulate policies that will invariably lead to private sector participation and ownership to reduce our housing deficit.”
Fashola maintained that the government would understudy ‘Jakande and Shagari’s housing estates model to develop an affordable housing unit for the masses, by building 40 blocks in each state.
He noted that the immediate past administration budgeted less in housing sector of the economy, the trends that would be reversed.
“So for us, consistency is key, annual spending is an imperative. We must change the budget for national housing from N1.8 Billion in 2015 to something in the hundreds of billions of Naira that matches our ambition.
“If we can spend N10 billion in each state and the FCT on housing alone every year subject to (a) the capacity to raise the money and (b) the capacity to utilize the funds having regards to our current construction methods and the time it takes to complete construction, which our ministry intends to change by research and industrialization of housing,” he said.
The minister explained that the government would embark on seminars and conferences to ensure proper capacity building for stakeholders in the sector to drive the new agenda.
According to him, “If we achieve this, we will move from where we are now, start construction in all 36 States and the FCT and sustain this as we go along.
“In the housing sector, if we complete our on-going projects, and we get land from the Governors in all states and the FCT to start what we know, using the Lagos Home model, we should start 40 Blocks of Housing in each state and FCT.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, says the Federal Government would re-introduce highway tolling to raise additional funds to finance road infrastructure and ensure efficient road maintenance.
Fashola said this on Tuesday in Abuja during his first news conference tagged “Setting the Agenda for Delivering Change”.
He said that adequate funding of the nation’s road infrastructure would generate job opportunities and reduce unemployment in the country.
“Maintenance would be our watchword. We are setting up a robust maintenance regime to keep our highways in good shape.
“This shows that tolling is necessary to support government funding. So, it will not be too much if we ask every road user to pay little to augment government funding for road maintenance.
“It is eminent commonsense for us to find that money. We will use technology; so if we don’t pay cash, you will pay by tokens or tickets and the money is accountable and it will go to the right place.
“We will manage that fund properly and we will hold those who we put there to account.”
He said that as a short-term strategy, the ministry would start with quick completion of ongoing inter-state roads in order to facilitate connectivity, before working on those that bear heavy traffic.
“We commit all our skills, energies, and collective integrity unreservedly to playing our part, but how much success we deliver is dependent also on the citizens’ commitment to their own part.’’
The minister observed that lack of funding had caused many construction companies to retrench their workers due to the huge debts owed them by the various tiers of government.
He said that with adequate budgetary allocations, the three ministries have an enormous role to play in repositioning the economy and creating jobs.
“Clearly, good roads will help reposition and grow our economy, reduce travel time, cost of transportation of goods and services, and restore jobs that have been lost to transport-dependent services.
“Some of the numbers from only four construction companies that were sampled, suggest that at least 5,150 workers have been laid off as at March 11, 2015.
“If each contractor has only 100 employees at each of the 200 contract sites, it means at least that 20,000 people who lost their jobs can return to work,if the right budget is put in place and funded for contractors to get paid.
“The possibility to return those who have just lost their jobs back to work is the kind of change that we expect to see by this short-term strategy.”
Fashola further said that the ministry would soon embark on enforcement of the right of way by dismantling all illegal structures infringing on the highways.
He advised persons infringing on the right of way to voluntarily dismantle the inappropriate structures before the government commenced the demolition of such structures.
“In order to make the roads safer, we intend to re-claim the full width of all Federal roads, representing 16 per cent and about 36,000km of Nigeria’s road network.
“We are immediately now asking all those who are infringing on our highways, whether by parking, trading, or Attention of any inappropriate structure to immediately remove, relocate or dismantle such things voluntarily.
“This will be the biggest contribution that citizens can offer our country as proof that we all want things to change for the better,” the minister said. (NAN)
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