Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN
Ahead of the Affordable Housing Summit which opens Monday in Abuja, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, has given an insight into how the Federal Government plans to achieve a sustainable housing programme for the country saying it is only through standardization of designs, even while taking into cognizance the cultural preferences of the nation’s geopolitical zones, that industrialization and mass housing can be possible.
Fashola, who met with National Assembly Committees on Housing to present the Implementation Plan of the 2016 Budget as it concerns the National Housing Programme during the week, said although there could be the desire out there that government should rush out and do what everybody has done in the past, and probably end up with the same old results, the focus of the present administration was more on a sustainable housing plan.
Fielding questions from Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Housing, Fashola, who said the little over N30 billion allocated to Housing in the 2016 Budget would not solve the nation’s housing problem, added that Government was desirous of delivering a plan that would work beyond its tenure.
The Minister, who cited two housing models, Singapore Housing Development Programme and the United Kingdom Housing Scheme, to explain the need for sustainability, said while the UK model started in 1918 and the Singaporean model in 1960, one common factor in those countries was “a near uniformity of design” when one looked outside, adding, “In whatever community that they build, as designs vary, they remain the same within one community”.
According to the Minister, Singapore, a country of about three million people, though they have implemented their housing design, an almost uniform design, successfully since 1960 till now, as at 2013 …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
