Dr Beni Goka, Executive Director, Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), National Assembly Chapter, says the association is embarking on construction of 6,000 housing unit with local materials for staff in Abuja.

He made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Goka stressed the need for the government and staff associations to ensure the welfare of citizens were guaranteed through affordable housing schemes.

As part of its effort at providing affordable houses for its members, Goka said that the association was embarking on a project of 6000 units of houses spread across the six area councils of the FCT.

“The staff union of the National Assembly decided in its goodness that the staff members need to be accommodated,” he said.

Goka noted that the association had identified over the years that finance and land acquisition were reasons why their members were not accommodated under the National Assembly Housing Scheme.

According to him, the contract for the building will be awarded to developers, who are proficient, who have the know-how, who are financially viable and who have lands.

“We had 70 developers, who applied for these positions but we are settling for 10. We will ensure that this project does not fail.

“We are also sourcing for alternative funding because we are aware that the Federal Mortgage Bank will be able to build up to a certain stage before they get their money back,” he said.

The executive director, Construction Finance, NASS, said the project was meant for permanent staff and legislative aides.

“These legislative aides are not members of PASAN. We are trying to include them in the project. Nigerians in general will also benefit from the project,” he said.

Goka, who said that there was daily increase in the cost of building materials, noted that the association had approximate value of monetary figure that would be placed on the houses.

According to him, for instance two-bedroom will costs between N9 million to N10 million, while the developer designs with our specification.

“Quantity Surveyor will verify what they bring in based on today’s market, then we will come up with an acceptable price for the project which will be based on differences in location.

“For the payment schedule, there will be monthly deduction that goes to PASAN fund as contribution to the housing.

“What we are trying to do is to make sure that our staff fall into the Federal Mortgage Bank long term mortgage scheme.

“We are working out the modalities of payment based on the year of service and year remaining in service versus the down payment,” Goka said

The director told NAN that the association would make use of local materials for the construction of the over 6000 units of houses for staff of the National Assembly.

According to Goka, this was in a bid to promote the use of indigenous products.

“We are hoping to use more of local content in our construction, particularly in the building materials.

“The local tiles are cheaper than the ones we import from China, with the economic recession, from January till date, local tiles have added about N250. If we are to import, it will be about N2,300 we are having our local tiles at about N1,350 on bulk purchase,” he said.

He further said that the use of local content does not involve only the building materials but also the technical expertise.

According to him, the association will be using simple finishing to make the houses more cheaper and affordable.

“By simple finishing we mean the basic finishing.

For luxury homes if you do rendering, you will do screeding, you will apply Dulux or Berger paint.

“There are no differences in all structural designs. The elements that go into the structures are basically the same. But when you begin to have differences is when you consider the type of finishing.

“What we want to do, however, is to use locally produced paint which will definitely bring the price down. By these steps we believe that we will have these houses at affordable rate.

He said that work had started in earnest, adding that the sites were situated in Lugbe, Kuje, Dei-Dei on Kubwa express. (NAN)

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