As a real estate expert, how can you make houses affordable to an average Nigerian?
As a developer our focus is on mass housing that is affordable to the generality of the public. That is the focus on our establishment and if you look at projects that we have done in the past, they corroborate that. We have 1,500 housing units in Lokogoma in our Sunnyville Homes flagship, and we are replicating same in our developments. These houses are affordable and to complement initial cost we have mortgage schemes through federal national housing schemes and also PMIs who make mortgage available over a long time as against paying once. That is our innovation aimed at making housing accessible and affordable in the face of harsh economic realities.
The economic situation is presently hard and people are complaining here and there. How has that affected your operations?
Well, for the high end properties it has had a lot of effects and that’s why we concentrated our energy on where a lot of people are, that’s the middle income bracket and that’s what we are basically providing houses within that income bracket. And to augment payment like I said earlier we are in alliance with Federal Mortgage Bank and PMIs so that clients can pay over a long time and also have the effect of the economy cushioned.
Governments drive a lot of things and how do you think their policies can affect the real estate sector?
Basically the job of government is to provide core infrastructure, and to give enabling environment to developers to do business and deliver on their core mandate of good housing schemes. But because of the way the current economy is running and the government’s lack of will to work on core infrastructure, it has affected us a great deal. In our own experience, we are doing the Phase two of Sunnnyville Garden Homes in Lokogoma, FCT area of Abuja, and between the main links of Lokogoma to our estate is a 3km road and it has been left unattended to for a long while and it has become a nightmare for users. And because we have a development around there and our commitment to community service we have taken up the task of doing the road from the beginning to asphalt it. It would have been a good encouragement, if we get a rebate on tax or even a refund like is being done to states when they fix a federal government road.
It is uncommon to see a developer puts in place infrastructure meant for government. What motivates you to do that?
The uncommon agony and stress that people go through to pass just a few kilometers of road is untold. So, we as a responsible developer decided to take it up as part of our social responsibilities. But we would appreciate it more if the government takes notice of the development and organize a form of refund or tax incentive for us for the efforts.
Tell us about your various housing projects.
We had a very successful outing with Sunnyville Homes, it is a 1,600 fully completed and delivered housing units and not too far from there, is another estate, and that’s the second phase of Sunnyville homes, it’s a 413 units of bungalows ranging from 2 and 3 bedroom semidetached bungalows, and we have 3 bedroom fully detached bungalows. Asides that we have around Apo, Redville Estate; it’s also developed by us.
What do you think the government can do to partner with you in order for you to deliver affordable and quality housing units?
For a developer like Net -construct we have made quality our watchword spanning 15 years. Even in the face of the economic situation, developers can still deliver quality service. So for us, our eyes are on excellence and quality and because we have a name attached to us to protect, it drives us to deliver good, durable and quality services.
There is always this issue of pricing vis a vis quality. What is your view regarding the sentiment by most developers regarding made in Nigeria products as panacea for cost reduction.
You see the new direction is in buying made in Nigeria products, and to a large extent most of our raw materials are readily available in Nigeria. We do a little of importing. Are we talking of cement? We have quite a number of cement factories in Nigeria. Are we talking about sand, granite and what have you, we have those in abundance. Net Construct therefore focuses on mass buying of all our raw materials and that has an effect on our procurements and inevitably our pricing.
Averagely, how would you categorize your facilities up for sale along the line of income in Abuja while also putting location in mind?
Well there are low income and middle income properties; also there are high end properties and also ultra-high end properties. But we are focused on middle income properties and our catchment and clients are middle income earners. Starting point which is a 2 bedroom semidetached bungalow. The next one is a 3 bedroom semidetached bungalow. And our third product is a 3 bedroom fully detached bungalow, with a boy’s quarters.
How is the market, are people buying?
We have a lot of interests, and for that reason we are debuting the 413 units in 4 phases, the whole projects is to run for two years and we are delivering about 100 units every month and we have had a good run.
Well developers need to look inward, and look at ways to cut costs usually by patronizing made in Nigeria products. That way, we are going to be able to bridge the gap in 17 million housing deficits in a short while.
