By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

In fulfillment of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s campaign promises to provide affordable housing for the people of the state, the state government, on Tuesday, signed a public –private – partnership agreement (PPP) with seven real estate companies.

The estate companies are expected to develop residential estates around the state capital territory, Awka.

Speaking at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Managing Director of Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA), Mr Mark Okoye, who represented the state government, disclosed that Awka was densely populated, saying that the state government was making efforts to decongest it.

He expressed hope that soon, Anambra would play host to the best real estate companies in the country.

According to him, 72 proposals came through in the last few months with regard to the project, but only seven developers made it.

He said: “You have been approved and you have been found to be competent. I must tell you that the Governor has a problem with deadlines, and he will hope to inspect something in the next three months.

“The state capital territory consists of seven local government areas, and about 24 communities. Awka town is already congested, so, we are working to move into others parts of the capital territory, in order to decongest Awka.”

Earlier in his speech, the Group Managing Director of Rainbow Heritage Homes, Mr Ihedinma Oliver, who spoke on behalf of the seven developers noted that housing needs were not peculiar to Anambra State, but a national problem.

“Housing problems cut across the entire country. Housing problem is a national issue, and a lot of people in Nigeria have housing issues, and a lot of interventions have previously been made in the past. We have identified Anambra as a critical state for that level of intervention.

“We wanted to change the landscape of Anambra State, the way real estate is done, and want to find solution to problems by driving the right type of development to be able to tackle all the erosion and other problems that come with development in Anambra State.

“The company plans to develop Golf Residency Estate on the 110 hectares of land allocated to it by the Anambra State government, and will develop 1,000 units of buildings that will service high and medium income earners,” Mr Ihedinma said.

While saying that the estate companies would work on 110 hectares of land, Ihedinma explained that the focus was on the medium and high income earners.

He added: “We want to create a functional estate that drives the level of ambience and splendour where people will be happy to come down to Anambra to spend time.

“We will also make sure it has impact on the surrounding communities with the level of support that allows them to be integrated into the development process.

'Within the estate, we also hope to host a golf range which will attract people from outside the state to come in and spend time. We will have a little bit of entertainment, a little bit of tourism. We want to make sure that we are able to put a big footprint in Anambra State, when it comes to real estate.

“We are trying to strike a balance to see that there is a balance between the middle and low income earners.”