The total approval for the development of housing projects in Nigeria by Shelter Afrique has risen to $181m (N55.6bn at the official exchange rate of N307 to one dollar), it was learnt on Thursday.
Shelter Afrique is a pan-African institution that supports housing and urban development in Africa.
It works in partnership with 44 African governments, the African Development Bank and the Africa Reinsurance Company.
Nigeria is the second largest sovereign shareholder of the institution with 10.71 per cent stake.
In his presentation on Housing Development and Financing Options, the Managing Director, Shelter Afrique, Andrew Chimphondah, also announced the institution’s planned investment of up to N650.9bn in Nigeria.
He said the investment would be through lines of credit construction finance for public private partnerships.
Chimphondah disclosed these at a sensitisation forum on land, housing and urban development multilateral programmes of collaboration, organised by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Abuja.
He stated that the firm, which is headquartered in Nairobi, had completed 17,572 housing projects in member countries, adding that the cumulative loan approval of the organisation in 2019 was $1.174bn.
Earlier in his keynote address, the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, said the provision of houses for citizens in any nation was vital.
He observed that the rapid urbanisation experienced across the world had posed life-changing concerns that should be adequately managed.
Aliyu said, “Its scale and dimension have severe significant social, cultural, economic and environmental consequences that have impacted on all spheres of our lives in one way or the other.
“In the face of the increasing challenges and opportunities brought about by this phenomenon, it is equally important for us to scale-up actions.”
Source: Punch
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