12th December, 2023
An estate developer and Chief Executive Office (CEO) Pennek Global, Dr. Kennedy Nnadi has urged the government to create a single agency that would be in charge of regulating everything connected to the housing or building sector as part of the measures to reduce the cost of houses in the country.
The developer advocated that a single agency should be created, instead of the present method where builders and developers are forced to deal with several agencies.
Nnadi made the call while speaking with newsmen at a flagship open house of the Pennek Court Estate in Abuja.
He said, “We are having our open house is our flagship projects in Abuja. We are building 85 units of houses here, we have done about 31 and about delivering to subscribers already and this was done within a year.
On how the government can help reduce the cost of houses, Nnadi said, “I feel the way the government can reduce the housing deficit in this country is because one of the things that have lead to deficit is the fact that land itself is very expensive, if the government can provide land for most developers then we can build on them and it would be cheaper.
“Some other ways to do a tax rebate. It’s already a difficult terrain doing business here at the moment, but if we have some tax rebate then, it would get the prices of houses down, and we can build a lot of it. Our houses are presently very affordable, we are trying to make it accessible for the average income earners. At the moment, these houses are going for about N65 million in many places in Abuja, you will see this type of houses for more.
“Also I feel there are a lot of government agencies to deal with when building in this country, if there is a way it can be reduced, just the same way we have the TSA, we should have just one government agency that would be a one-stop shop for builders and developers.
“Secondly, the government needs to support developers, no country develops without the developers, the government might have an idea about what they want, but it’s the developers that drive the vision and mission. So the government can support us by providing land and then try to protect our assets. Pennek actually started up in Lagos and is now in Abuja and we equally launched in the United States earlier in the year.”