Ekiti enters PPP to build 50,000 housing units

The Ekiti state government says it has secured a partnership with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS) Holdings to build 50,000 houses with renewable energy within the state from 2020 to 2023.

In a tweet on Wednesday, the state government said the project would last for 10 years between 2020 and 2030.

Commenting on the project, Kayode Fayemi (pictured), the governor of the state, said: “We are very excited to partner with UNOPS and SHS to deliver affordable housing to the people of Ekiti state”.

“This is how our promise of developing Ekiti and improving the lives of the people can be achieved. This partnership has come at an important time, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reminded us of the need to deliver quality social infrastructure to the people.”

According to a statement on the UNOPS website, the houses will have solar panel roofs, waste-to-energy technology and mosquito-repelling coatings.

The project is expected to create thousands of local jobs as well as foster economic growth among a host of local industries.

“We are very pleased to support this contribution to Nigeria’s national development priorities and in particular, to help meet the critical need for affordable housing, through innovative approaches to construction and mortgage financing,” Vitaly Vanshelboim, assistant secretary-general and chief executive of UNOPS Sustainable Infrastructure Impact Investments (S3I) initiatives, said.

“UNOPS is strongly committed to helping find new ways to finance inclusive, resilient and sustainable development activities that generate positive social, economic and environmental impacts.”

The statement also said UNOPS and SHS will seek resources from third-party investors to fund the initiative – which has an estimated gross development value (based on the sales value of completed homes) of up to $2 billion.

SHS will supply proprietary state-of-the-art technology to the project and oversee the development of housing while the Ekiti state government will allocate suitable land for potential developments and create an enabling environment for foreign direct investment and mortgage finance.

In March 2019, the UNOPS had announced that it would roll out a $15 billion project to construct affordable houses in some countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.