One of the major challenges of living in majority of Nigerian cities is the absence of adequate infrastructure and facilities in residential settlements. The effects of this is far reaching, as the environment in which people live can to a large extent influence how they behave, their level of discipline & orderliness and even their average life expectancy.
People who live in well planned and organized neighbourhoods with
adequate facilities and infrastructure such as good roads, 24 hours
availability of electricity, beautiful and well maintained environment
with trees and flowers, and with easy access to good schools and health
facilities tend to have better refined personalities (National Research
Council of The National Academies, 2010).
This model proposes a public private partnership (PPP) for the development of residential settlements in Nigerian cities. It aims to supplement the shortcomings of other models used by the private sector.
The Nigerian land use act specifies that all lands within a state belongs to the government of that state and can be acquired at anytime by the government for purposes of public interest. This makes the acquisition of large expanse of lands very easy and cheap for the government.
A – “Acquire Land”. This is the first phase in the development of the residential settlement, and comes up after the state government has identified the need for the development of residential settlements, in line with the expansion of the city. It involves the state government acquiring large expanse of lands (up to 500 hectares) from local communities in areas it deems fit for residential development, in line with the growth trend of the city and provisions of the city master plan. It also involves the relocation or compensation of local communities.
I – “Invite Stakeholders”. In this phase, the government invites necessary stake holders from the organized private sector to discuss the development of the residential settlement and agree on the provision of link up roads and other infrastructure to open up the intended area. They may also discuss the provision of alternative routes if the area is far from business districts using the currently available routes. Also, the government chooses an estate developer and an estate maintenance company to partner with on the project, and sells the acquired land to the developer at a subsidized rate, with an agreement that the developer will in turn also sell the plots at subsidized rates after development.
D – “Design Residential Settlement”. Here the chosen / agreed estate developer creates elaborate architectural plans for the area, ensuring there are provisions for all the required facilities and infrastructure, and also room for future expansion.
S – “Sell Lands in Proposed Settlement”. The estate developer markets lands as individual plots of 700sqm to the public at subsidized rates. Since the lands were equally acquired from the government at very subsidized rates, typical prices should range from $700- $5,000, depending on the targeted income level for that settlement and the location.
I – “Infrastructure Development in Settlement & Link up With Main City”. This phase comes up after the sale of plots, and here the funds obtained after the sales are used to implement the architectural plans, partition the land, and provide the required infrastructure for the settlement.
M – “Management of Settlement”. This phase comes up after the development of infrastructure is complete and plots have been allotted to their owners. In this phase, the management of the settlement is assigned to a competent private management company, and residents of the settlement pay monthly service charges to the management authority.
This model brings about job creation, extra funds for the state government which in turn can be used to facilitate other projects in the state.
... courtesy Tamunosaki, an entrepreneur and owner of http://www.neighbourhoodreview.com
This is certainly a good model. Hope this can be considered by some state governments.
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