How to Reduce Cement Price –Lafarge
Stories by Chris Uba
Chairman of Lafarge Cement, WAPCO Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, has urged the federal government to fix decaying infrastructure and guarantee efficient supply of energy, saying that is the best way to reduce the price of cement in the country.
Speaking at the 53rd Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos,Osunkeye said the high cost of energy borne by manufacturers and worsening infrastructure left them with no option of considering downward review of the price of the product.
According to him, the proposed increase in electricity tariff also meant that reduction in price of cement was not in sight.
He, however, said his company would explore internal mechanism that might cause little adjustment in the price of the product.
The current price of cement is between N2,500 and N2,800 in many parts of the country. Last year, President Goodluck Jonathan issued directive to cement manufacturers to reduce its price but this could not be sustained.
Meanwhile, WAPCO Nigeria has announced a profit after tax of N8.5 billion in the 2011 year end.
This represents 74 percent increase over the previous year's financial result. Osunkeye said turnover for the year increased by 42 percent to N62.2 billion. He also announced that the company gave dividend payout of N75 kobo on each ordinary share to shareholders, representing 200 percent on gross dividend approved by shareholders in 2010.
Speaking at the meeting, Osunkeye explained that the company's 74 percent profit after tax was due to increase in operating profit and the impact of the reduced tax liability for the year. He also said turnover increased in the year under review as a result of improved plant efficiency and market expansion drive.
“The high turnover recorded was made possible by the approximately 37 percent increase in volume of cement dispatches for the year compared with 1.6 million metric tonnes recorded in 2010. This has favourably impacted on profitability,” he said. Shareholders,who spoke at the meeting commended the result and urged the company not to rest on its oars in maintaining its market share.
CGbagyi Village Re-settlement Worries Developer
A private estate developer, Asbima Premises Investment Ltd., has raised alarm over the security threat a Gbagyi settlement in Jabi district of Abuja is posing over the development of the site allocated to his client. Mr. Mustapha Abdullahi, MD/CEO of Asbima Premises Investment Ltd., told Daily Trust that the piece of land was allocated to his client, Frontier Publishing Ltd. since 1990 by the FCT Administration.
He said that while all other properties contiguous to the said piece of land has been or is in the process of being developed, the Gbagyi natives currently occupying the land have refused to move to the re-settled land given to them by the FCT Administration to allow for development by his client
He said that the site is largely rented out by the natives for other businesses like selling cement while other shady activities in alcohol and drug abuse which pose a threat to the security of lives and property around the area.
Director, FCT Department of Resettlement and Compensation, Francis J. Okechukwu, however, said the houses for the resettled natives in Galuwyi/Shere resettlement site are about 70 per cent completed, adding that government has already awarded contract for the provision of infrastructure at the site, including access road.
He said the FCTA expects resettlement to commence towards the end of the 2012 budget period, adding that other settlements, apart from Kpadna which are in the first phase include Jabi.
Okechukwu said that the Galuwyi/Shere resettlement site is meant to accommodate 12 communities of Jabi Samuel, Jabi Yakubu, Utako, Kpadna, Mabushi, Gishiri, Kado 1 and II, Magajipe, Zhilu, Maje among others.
He said physical construction work is at 75 per cent completion stage, covering an area of about 9,000 hectares and that the buildings are expected to be in a neighbourhood system were each neighbourhood is expected to retain their traditional institution as well as chieftaincy allegiance.
Borno Plans 1,000 Housing Units
To achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDGs) on housing for all by the year 2015, the Borno State government is to build 1, 000 additional housing units and distribute on an Owner Occupier Housing Scheme (OOHS), Commissioner for Housing and Rural Electrification, Alhaji Sugum Mai Mele has said.
The commissioner disclosed these at the weekend in Maiduguri at the ministerial press briefing to mark Democracy Day of Governor Kashim Shettima's All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) administration in the state.
He said the state government has accorded top most priority to the housing sector, so that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on housing for all could be achieved by 2015.
He said out of the targeted housing units meet UN-MDGs, government has already built and allocated 1, 280 housing units, including the 777 houses at the Moromti Housing Estates.
The completed 1, 000 housing units at Tashan Journey and 540 units in the 27 council
areas are yet to be allocated on OOHS to achieve housing for all. He, however, noted that when the 1, 000 housing units project, is completed, the total number of houses will hit 3, 822.
Fashola Unveils N1.7b Lekki Scheme II Infrastructure Project
A an impetus for physical development in the infrastructural development in the Lekki Scheme 11 “Site and Service” Estate, in Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola commissioned nine roads in the estate.
This, alongside with the streetlights and drainage facilities have been completed, thus, paving the way for individual owners to begin the development of their projects.
The scheme, designed in 1996 with an area of 514.53 hectares, has 3,095 residential plots, 64 commercial plots, 47 mixed development plots, 26 institutional plots and 17 recreational plots.
Known as Lekki Peninsula Scheme II, the estate was designed to satisfy the yearning of the people for plots of land to build personal houses and that all the plots have been fully allocated more than a decade ago.
However, worried by the incursion of the Atlantic Ocean into the southern portion of Lekki Phase II scheme, a meeting of the stakeholders is being ordered to put in place by the government, ostensibly to deliberate on how to find a lasting solution to the problem.
Besides, Fashola, while appealing to allottees to move in and commence the development of their plots within the shortest possible time, said that long neglect of the scheme had been responsible for the encroachment of land by squatters who build illegal structures on them.
“Apart from the illegal squatters, the activity of sand miners is continually degrading the scheme and it cost government colossal sums of money and valuable time to remove shanties,” he said, adding that for over the years, the southern portion of the scheme has become water lodged, largely due to continuous flow of water into the scheme from the Atlantic Ocean.According to Fashola, the Oba Elegushi Housing Estate was deliberately sited in the scheme as part of government's efforts to attract people to the estate.
But he wondered whether someone who has allocation for about twenty years and did nothing to take physical possession should be seen as one who required it for development or as a land speculator.
He recalled that the micro-water work that will supply potable water to the scheme had been completed and commissioned in 2002, while substantial work had been done on the electrification project of the scheme. Specifically, he mentioned the erection and reticulation of the electric poles, the streetlights and the installation of transformers, which he said had been done
According to him: “Government has constructed 97 roads measuring 59.342km or representing 83 percentage out of a total of 125 roads representing 71.452 kilometres in all the schemes in the area, while the total length of the nine roads in the scheme II alone was 5.58 kilometres.
Currently 13 roads measuring 6.982km or representing 9.8 per cent are under construction. Equally, four roads measuring 1.690km have just been awarded and this represents 2.3 per cent of the roads, while the processes to award the balance of the 20 outstanding roads representing 3.438km or 16 per cent of the total length of roads are at advance stage.
Speaking earlier, the General Manager, New Towns Development Authority, Dr. Adeyemi Isiba said that the aggressive pursuit of the development of the scheme would act as catalyst for the movement of allottees into the scheme to develop their plots.
Isiba noted, “the ever-increasing population of Lagos State has continuously put pressure on the state government to provide land for people to build houses and hinted that the Lagos State Government through the New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) will soon open new schemes in the state.
The new schemes according to him were Iberekodo Industrial Town, Ibeju Coastal City and Ibeju Mixed Development scheme all in Ibeju Lekki Local Government area, Meghoto City, Oba Akran City, Suntan Beach scheme and Iya-Afin scheme located in Badagry and Ilu-Tuntun scheme, Ikorodu.
The general manager appealed to allottees in all schemes in the state to pay their capital development levy as at when due to encourage the state government to provide necessary infrastructure in the relevant schemes to facilitate construction and occupation of the schemes in good time.
Commending the contractor handling the road project, Messrs Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), for what the governor described as “quality job performance and timeliness in delivery”, he said that his government was committed to relationship among the various contractors who distinguished themselves in their project execution and delivery.
UK-Based Capital Symonds Launches Multi-Storey Project in Lagos
With eye on reaping the benefits of real estate market in Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos, a United Kingdom-based property and infrastructure projects consultancy firm, has unveiled plans for construction of a multi-storey structure in Lagos, which may be the first internationally recognised green building in the city.
Lagos' Heritage Place scheme as it would be called by the promoters - Capita Symonds, will provide a new benchmark for office accommodation in the country, comprising 15,300 square metres of office space over eight floors, 390 car parking spaces over six floors and a ground floor lobby with meeting rooms and café.
Green buildings are usually sustainable structures, which have, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) ratings for their design construction and operation of high performance homes and neighbourhoods.
The details of the project were still sketchy at the weekend, but Capita Symonds' Communications Manager, Karl Blockwell, disclosed that the project is being developed in response to planning requirements and would provide a new benchmark for office accommodation in the country.
Blockwell said the building located in Ikoyi, would have a car park acting almost as a podium, with the office block on top and is designed to conform with strict planning restrictions governing maximum height and minimum car parking spaces.
Capita Symonds provides design, real estate and infrastructure expertise on projects across the world, and has a number of international offices.He also revealed that the company had been appointed to provide engineering consultancy services for Plethora Realty and Facility Managers at its proposed Aso Hills development in Abuja.
Capita Symonds will be advising on a four month design review of the preliminarily design package prepared by the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
The work will include the production of a design review report, which will enable Plethora to make an informed decision in respect of future development of the overall project.
Capita Symonds Director, Ken Simmonds said, “this is a major civil engineering / development project in Abuja and as the clients aspirations grows there are further opportunities for Capita Symonds to provide future multidisciplinary consultancy services downstream of these initial works.”
The Abuja project tagged: Aso Hills is a mixed-use urban development on a 220ha site, intended to be the blueprint for similar future developments forming part of a wider Abuja master plan.
Aso Hills, which falls within the Central District, also known as the Three Arms Zone, is being created to have a distinctive identity for the city through site selection and detailed design.