Affordable housing: Expert urges innovative approaches

A real estate expert, at a two-day real estate summit held in Lagos, recently, has called for innovative approaches towards arresting the housing deficit in the country ; as well as making affordable housing available to all.
This is just as they also called for an improvement on the prevalence of “wet construction method,” which still predominates the construction industry.
Leading the call at the summit tagged: “Innovating, Collaborating and growing to achieve adequate and affordable housing in NigeriaPresident, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr. Luka Bulus Achi said Nigeria needs to improve on the existing construction methods, materials and speed with which housing units are delivered, as the traditional construction method, which still predominates the industry, is wet construction.
He said,“We are all familiar with a number of days needed to expect a suspended concrete slab to cure. Many structures have failed in a bid to cut down time, trying to truncate the length of time of waiting just to find a way of speeding up the process. In view of the cost-intensive nature of the industry and the difficulty in accessing funds for procurement of heavy-duty machinery, it appears that the speed of construction slows down as the structure increases in height.
He said,“The world is witnessing other innovations in 3D printing house construction, which is available for further research in Nigeria. Growing involves process, and construction is a process. The challenge is that generally, people don’t understand that it is a process, especially some of those in authority. When there is a process, everything must take place at the scheduled time. I believe that the ability to collaborate and innovate should be developed and made to grow to the extent that we then look forward to achieving adequate housing.”
Represented by the second vice president, Toyin Ayinde, he said: “The general public was more familiar with the term, “low-cost” than with “affordable”. It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of low-cost, but it may have found its roots in the housing programme of Lagos State Government between 1979 and 1983.”
He said, “The housing programme was then termed low cost, but what probably didn’t come to reality is the fact that it was also low in theprovision of infrastructure, services, and facilities. Today, it is unlikely to develop same units at the same costs.
“ Truthfully, though, there were indications a few years ago that the government was still making some payments on debts owed since that time, meaning that the units may not really be low-cost as many imagined. Affordability is, therefore, a more plausible approach, which can be achieved collaborating with the relevant professionals.”