Ogun, Lafarge unveil Sagamu’s new Makun city

IN a bid to reduce housing deficit and provide affordable housing for the average Nigerian homeowner, Lafarge has launched the first phase of the new Makun city in Sagamu interchange.

The houses which are a three bedroom bungalow of ten units were built in partnership with the Ogun State Property Investment Corporation (OPIC) and commissioned by Governor Ibikunle Amosun last week, where he noted that the project offers ample opportunity for people to become homowners.

Head, Affordable Housing and Buildings, Lafarge, Jumoke Adegunle disclosed that the company was invited by OPIC last year to construct 10 homes, “we were given a mandate to deliver good quality homes, right specification and in four weeks. We did this in partnership with Tilewalls. Afterwards, OPIC completed the finishing; they put in the doors, windows and paints.

“These buildings are about 78 square meters each of concrete walls; Tilewalls has set up panels on site, then after mixing the concretes, we cast the houses on site, so what you have is a solid concrete wall, it is not block. Concrete is made of cement, sand, aggregate and water and so cement is still a strong element, but this time everything is mixed.

“We talk a lot about cement in Nigeria but in building it is really about the concrete. In the way we build, you take away a lot of over use of materials due to errors, at the end of the day, the walls of the house come out straight just as you can see. Also you build faster to reduce the cost of your financing, and so you can sell faster, you don’t have to wait for a long time to pay up loans; it is perfect for affordable housing.”

Adegunle noted that the method allows more houses to be built in a short while; Nigeria has over 17 million housing deficit and to meet up with the speed, using the block method takes a longer time, with our method you have a lot more houses in a giving period, speed of execution can help meet the need of housing in Nigeria.

“In terms of the percentage of time reduction, we did a study and for a three bedroom bungalow, if we did it the normal way, it will take 35 days while our method takes 17 days and so it is 18 per cent cheaper, the more units we do, the more time we save too.”

She declined to speak on the cost of the project talk, “I am not at liberty to talk about how much OPIC paid us to build these homes, but I can say we gave a very competitive price in terms of speed and affordability. We are working with OPIC.

“They are our key customer and we deliver to their specification. We bring in all our expertise on concretes, aggregates, cement, design and building. We give affordable housing, leveraging on technology at an affordable price instead of the conventional brick and water; we have industrialized the process.”