The promoter of Ketti Green Smart City, Abuja, Moses Ayom, has said that a recent United Nations (UN) report on climate change, was a wake-up call to explore alternatives to bridge the housing deficits in the country.
Ayom, who is also the chief executive officer of Hongye International Ltd, owners of Ketti District in Abuja, under the revived FCDA land swap program, also urged investors and international development finance institutions to seize the business opportunity in the emerging global shift towards a carbon-neutral economy and deploy more finance towards climate-smart and sustainable projects in Africa.
He said on Thursday in Abuja that the report was also a wake-up call for African property developers to adopt green building practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the continent’s-built environment.
According to him, the mass adoption of green buildings and increased investor financing of green projects would help Africa make faster progress towards achieving its greenhouse gas emission targets as part of the global climate mitigation rally.
“Mitigating the impact of climate change is everyone’s business. The latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveals that the Earth is approximately 1.1 degrees Centigrade hotter than it was in the second half of the 19th century. If this trend continues, there will be no future for the world.
“We all must do our part to fix this problem. And that is why as a socially responsible company, we decided to commit to building the Ketti District that spans over 300 hectares of land in Abuja as a foremost Green and Smart City in Africa,” Ayom said.
He said that his company’s decision to develop Ketti District as a Green City reflects a sound understanding that buildings account for about 40 percent of greenhouse emissions and that building green is the leading and globally accepted construct to mitigate pollutions from the built environment.
He said, “We are talking about a Green City that would sit over 300 hectares of land with a potential population density of close to 10,000 persons that climate-smart energy sources would power. The energy savings would be immense, and the carbon footprint/impact on the environment would be near zero.
“Ketti Green City would be a great addition to the efforts of the Nigerian government to meet its climate change targets. As the foremost and largest green city in Africa, it will serve as an example for other developers to start thinking green instead of building conventionally.”
He also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the recent decision of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to lift the suspension on the FCT land swap program.
He said that this had paved way for the FHA-Ketti District collaboration to champion green buildings in the FCT.
