The Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, yesterday flagged off the construction of a new housing estate billed to cost about N4 trillion in the heart of the state capital.

The project which has its estimated completion schedule within 18 months is expected on completion to consist of about 100 units of various types of houses, including duplexes and high rise apartments.

The project sitting on 20 hectares of land and donated by Ezinano Community in Awka South Local Government Area (LGA) is being financed by Senator Annie Okonkwo, who represented Anambra Central at the Senate in the 6th Assembly.

Also to be constructed in the estate are a shopping mall, offices, a Police post, schools as well as hospital.

Details of the 18 months project showed that the investor would contribute 90% of the funds, while the state government would contribute only10 percent.

However, on completion, the profit sharing formula would be 85% for the investor, 10% for the state government and 5% for the host community.

While appealing to the youths of the community not to disrupt work on the site, Governor Obiano harped on the importance of the project saying that it would create about 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.

He said that with the takeoff of the project, his administration had attracted investments of about $4.8 billion since assumption of office, adding that the estate known as Hills Estate was the 27th company he had attracted to the state.

In his speech, Senator Okonkwo expressed happiness that he was able to bring to Anambra the type of projects he had seen in other major cities in the world.

He maintained that the investment could not have been possible if Governor Obiano had not created a conducive environment that favoured investments.

Okonkwo said that though Obiano had excelled in the area of security, that his greatest achievement since coming to office was the unification of Anambra people irrespective of their political affiliations.

“Obiano is a Governor that does not discriminate in the development of the state and it is what he is doing that is attracting our people from all parts of the world to come home and invest.

“With what he is doing, Anambra State will soon become a home for tourism in Nigeria and it will not take long for the state to become self sufficient in many sectors of the economy. He therefore needs the support of Anambra people to actualise his programmes.

“Though I do not belong to the same political party with Obiano, I would not hesitate to say that he has done more than any other person that had governed the state in the past,” the senator stated.

•Photo shows Governor Obiano.

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