By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
The federal government said a total of N 118.9bn will be spend for the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates and Urban and Slum Upgrading programmes in its 2023 supplementary budget and another N18.9billion in the 2024 budget.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Architect Ahmed Dangiwa, made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja at the flag off of the construction of 3,112 pilot housing projects under the Renewed Hope housing initiative in the Karsana area of the Federal Capital Territory, which was performed by President Bola Tinubu.
N100 billion was captured in the 2023 supplementary budget and another N18.9 billion in the 2024 budget for the project and estate construction across the country.
The estate is consummated through a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and a consortium of companies and is expected to provide the total construction of 100,000 housing units nationwide.
Dangiwa assured the president and Nigerians of the commitment of the ministry to drive the Renewed Hope Vision for Housing and Urban Development and make it a reality through the provision of decent, affordable, and quality homes with infrastructure that support dignified living for Nigerians, in the Federal Capital Territory, State Capitals, and across the country.
He said: “That is why we have planned and commenced the actualization of this vision under the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Development Programme, which your Excellency is officially launching today. Under phase One, we plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. The Cities will have 1,000 housing units per site in one location in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and FCT, while the Estates will have 500 housing units per site in the remaining thirty (30) States”.
The minister also explained that the projects have been conceptualised and designed as integrated living communities that will accommodate citizens from all income brackets, with units comprising one-bedroom blocks of flats, two-bedroom blocks of flats, and three-bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces, four-bedroom duplexes, and five-bedroom duplexes.
“We are also on the verge of breaking ground for 2,500 Renewed Hope City housing units at the Ibeju-Lekki Coastal City, Lagos, the development of a 500-housing unit Renewed Hope Estate in Kano and 250 housing units in twelve (12) states (2 per geopolitical zone) as Renewed Hope Estates. These amount to 6,000 housing units under the 2023 Supplementary Budget”, he said.
Dangiwa also stated that the ministry planned to develop another mega housing project in Gbagadalape, a boundary town between Nasarawa State and the FCT, adjacent to the Abacha and another collaboration with the Ministry of Information which has a vast land in Lagos in a prime location to develop a Renewed Hope City, and several others.
He thanked the president for approving the N100 billion in the 2023 supplementary budget and another N18.9billion in the 2024 budget for the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates and Urban and Slum Upgrading programmes, adding that his ministry is set to deliver 7,500 affordable housing units that will cater to the average Nigerian workers.
