RSG To Unveil 1000 Houses

About 1000 low cost housing units targeted towards the middle class will be completed and delivered before the end of the year, Governor Amaechi has said.

Briefing newsmen yesterday on plans to commence the projects, Rt. Hon. Amaechi said the houses would be affordable in order to address the huge housing deficit in the state.

According to him, the project would be handled by German firm and is prefabricated with solar power and convenience.

“Social housing is for everybody. Not for the rich or for the poor and it will go between N4 to N3 million per housing unit”, Amaechi said.

The Rivers State Chief Executive disclosed that once the German firm were mobilised, the housing units would be completed in six months.

Other features of the housing estate include special play grounds, sewage treatment plants, community hall and health centre, consisting of two bedroom flats each.

Despite fears that highly placed individuals will hijack the housing, Amaechi promised that measures were being put in place to avert such, “I will not allow men to buy and sell to the poor.”

The governor also ordered the commissioner for housing to revemp the abandoned Igbo-Etche housing and make it available to the public.

In the same vein, about 1000students are billed to be admitted in the new state vocational training centre to be located at former Port Harcourt primary school premises.

The centre will also be run by a German firm, ZWH which has specialty in continuing vocational education training in skilled crafts.

Amaechi disclosed that the first batch would be state sponsored, while hinting that the craft centre at Aba road would be leased to Isrealie’s to overhaul and manage for efficiency.

In order to adapt to curriculum to reflect local needs, the governor said already talks have began with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to ensure that accredited courses were relevant to demand locally.

He believed that the two German firms were capable of delivering on the projects, emphasizing that the state has an obligation to provide funds to ensure their completion.