Developer explains why govt should participate in housing provision

…as Fountain Havens launches 8-unit Jasmine Villa

A real estate investor and developer, Olasijibomi Ojuola, has explained why governments at the state and federal levels should not be seen as competitors trying to crowd out private developers in the provision of housing for Nigerians.

Ojuola, who is the managing director/chief executive of Fountain Havens, said the government should participate in housing provision because, according to him, the market is huge. There’s still a deficiency in terms of the number of houses that is available compared to the population of the country.

He spoke in an interview with BusinessDay on the sidelines of the launch of Jasmine Villa in Ikoyi, Lagos. “The population of the country continues to increase. And as people’s earning power increases, they need affordable housing,” he noted.

He explained that affordable or what is appropriately called low-cost housing, is the duty of the government to provide, pointing out, however, that even though they are called low-cost houses, huge capital is required to develop those houses.

Ojuola described Jasmine Villa, a residential development, as affordable luxury. “That is what we have here because, at the end of the day, people have been promised 24-hour power. The project has a dedicated transformer and generators. We also have electrical panel works so seamlessly installed that when light goes off, it picks up automatically. Every unit has its own cinema and gym,” he said.

He recalled that the estate was developed at the peak of hyperinflation in the country, but they were able to keep to their delivery promise without going back to the customers to say they needed to vary the project or to extend the time of delivery.

“So we were able to work within our own means to ensure that the project was completed on time, quality, and also to the specification we promised the clients when they subscribed to the project,” Ojuola enthused.

Besides inflation, he noted that the construction industry as a whole is challenged by a dearth of manpower, explaining that technical people are not easily available, while it is a bit tough managing the technicalities that come with construction.

“The good news is that the government has approved that people who want to go to technical schools can do so free of charge, because that is what is lacking. We need to go look out for people from neighbouring countries like Ghana and Benin Republic to come in to do some of these jobs,” he said.

Speaking on integrity as part of their value propositions, Ruona Oghuvbu, the company’s Head, Sales and Business Development, disclosed that they always try their best to ensure that they have competitive pricing and deliver value.

“Part of delivering value is doing so on time, on budget, of the quality that was promised, and putting out the final product with the right pricing,” he said.

Continuing, he said, “one of the things that works for us is our expertise in the market. As developers, we have been in the industry for over 5 years, but as a construction company, we have been in this industry for over 15 years. We have a mix of both value engineering and smart decision making.”

He argued that if you don’t understand the volatility of the Nigerian economy, or you do not do your procurement on time, you might run into problems which, according to him, is the reason most products are so highly priced.

“So what we do is a mix of value engineering to ensure that our products are in the right location and easily accessible. Also, they are well priced, and we deliver on time. That on-time delivery is something that many people have challenges with,” he stated.