By Adeyinka Adeniran
Oyo State government through its Housing Corporation (OYSHC) said it has concluded arrangement to deliver 2,500 housing units on the Ajoda New Town in the next 12 months.
Chairman, Oyo State Housing Corporation (OYSHC), Ademola Omotosho made the disclosure during a media interaction to reveal the plans.
He said the housing units to be delivered through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with investors will be delivered as one, two and three bedroom apartments, through a scheme that will ensure affordability for the people of the state.
He noted that the plan is to harness and build on efforts of past leadership of the Corporation who had invested in building road infrastructures on the plots for the housing units which has seen the property appreciate.
He said the Ajoda New Town project which was started by the David Jemibewon administration in 1976 has suffered slow developmental pace because many allottees of the property held it for to long without developing their plots.
He added that, the law that sets up the Corporation empowers it to hold, withdraw and revoke allocation of undeveloped plots after certain period of time to pave way for development.
Omotosho lamented that due to the situation, more than 4,000 individuals have encroached on some parts of the vast land, as some of the 5,000 hectare land had been resold illegally by land grabbers to unsuspecting individuals who have now erect residential buildings on the encroached parts.
The Board Chairman, however said, after due consultation with relevant stakeholders, those affected should not nurse any fear of the demolition of their houses, assuring that with their cooperation, government will integrate them into the overall plan and make them permanent tenant of the Corporation after normalisation and regularization of their documentations had been completed.
On the planed 2,500 housing units, Omotosho said the last board spent a lot of money to open up the Ajoda New Town with tarred roads, which is making the state attractive to developers.
He added that the new board is building on the effort of the last Board, adding new value and improvement on what is on ground with the planned 2,500 housing units.
He also disclosed plans of the Corporation to build the Ajoda Omituntun Golf Estate to attract elites into the area, the Ajoda Shopping Mall, to be located inside the Olubadan Estate, opposite Gbagi international market, assuring that, as the projects get approval of the governor, the detailed plans will be made public.
He further explained that the Corporation will also develop other parts of the state, so as not to limit development to Ibadan, the capital city alone.
