Kebbi govt to build 2,000 houses – Commissioner

A-house

The Kebbi State Government on Monday promised to build 2,000 houses in order to ease accommodation challenges confronting residents of the state.

The State Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi that the move would help to reduce the housing deficit in the state.

He said that following the deficit, the state government had received over 27,000 applications for allocation of land.

“The number of applications we have received from individuals and organisations in the state who are keen to acquire plots to build houses has reached about 27,000.

“This is an indication that the deficit is in thousands because, definitely, there are some people who did not even apply,’’ Ladan said.

He said discussions were ongoing between the government and the Federal Mortgage Bank to construct houses using private developers.

The commissioner said the houses would be allocated to individuals who would be expected to pay within a period of five years to 10 years.

The government, he said, also had a plan to allocate plots of land to members of the public to build residential houses.

According to him, the government will continue to support efforts to improve infrastructure in the state.
He said that the Federal Government had also approached the state to allocate it 10 hectares of land to construct houses in the state capital.

“They want another five hectares of land in each of the three senatorial districts of Argungu, Zuru and Yauri.
“We will open our arms to welcome individuals and private firms who want to join us in uplifting the state’s infrastructural standard,’’ the commissioner said.

According to him, the present administration inherited a project involving a contract of N2.5 billion for the construction of 400 houses from the immediate past administration.

Ladan said discussion was on-going with the contractor on how to go about it in view of the present economic situation.