By Angela Atabo
The Abuja Property Development Company (APDC) has inaugurated housing units at APDC Homes Karasana District and unveiled new projects at Hilltop Residence, Usman, as part of efforts to address housing deficit in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, represented by the Group Managing Director of Abuja Investments Company Ltd. (AICL), Amb. Maureen Tamuno, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja.
Wike said the initiative was designed to provide affordable accommodation for different categories of residents, particularly young people.
He said the inaugurated phase comprised studio apartments and self-contained one-bedroom units, each with a kitchen and toilet, offering young people, school leavers and single residents an opportunity to own homes and start a new life in Abuja.
He said the studio apartments were sold for N15 million each, describing the price as encouraging, given the challenges of securing affordable accommodation in the FCT.
“President is Bola Tinubu has decided to take care of different cadres of people, especially the young persons.
“You can see that young people,school leavers will be able to afford even to live in this type of apartments to start life in Abuja.
“These are what we bring to bear as government-owned company, as APDC, as AICL.
“We try to meet the needs.We actually search for the needs of the people and then we build to meeting their needs.So this is a welcome thoughtout development.”
Wike said that the apartments were quickly sold out, prompting APDC to explore opportunities to develop more housing units to meet growing demand.
“Once you have accommodation, especially in a city like Abuja, you have solved one of the major problems facing residents,” he said.
Wike urged the company to sustain its commitment to affordable housing, adding that access to homeownership could contribute to addressing accommodation challenges and reducing the vulnerability of residents to social problems.
He congratulated the APDC management team for developing housing solutions tailored to the needs of different income groups.
Similarly, the Acting Managing Director of APDC, Mr Akeem Aderogbe, said the company was committed to providing homes for low- and middle-income earners through housing designs that accommodated different household sizes and financial capacities.
Aderogbe said the company’s housing options included studio apartments, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom flats, enabling residents to move into larger homes as their families and financial circumstances changed.
He encouraged young people and civil servants to take advantage of mortgage schemes, noting that prospective homeowners could make an initial deposit of about 10 per cent, while the balance could be financed through appropriate housing finance institutions.
According to him, financing options included the National Housing Fund, the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board and other mortgage schemes, subject to eligibility requirements.
He said younger workers had an advantage in accessing housing loans because repayments could be spread over their remaining years in service, making homeownership more manageable.
Aderogbe urged civil servants and other prospective homeowners to explore the available financing options rather than wait until they approached retirement before seeking to acquire properties.
In his remarks, Alhaji Bashir Jimoh, Managing Director of Bashmoh Homes Ltd.,a property developer partnering with APDC, said reducing the housing deficit required more than constructing houses.
Jimoh stressed the need for government to facilitate access to land titles and provide supporting infrastructure.
He said secure property titles were essential for prospective homeowners to access mortgage facilities from banks and other financial institutions.
He noted that without the necessary documentation, many Nigerians would find it difficult to obtain financing for homeownership.
The developer also called on government to provide access roads to housing estates, explaining that good road networks were necessary to making new developments accessible, functional and suitable for residents.
Jimoh said improved land administration, mortgage access and infrastructure provision would help make housing more affordable and support efforts to reduce Nigeria’s housing deficit.(NAN)
Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa
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