‘Elekahia Houses, Still Affordable’

Houses in Elekahia
Housing Estate have been described as inexpensive and conducive for mostly the middle-income earners.
A house agent, Miss Blessing Okieto, who made this ascertion in an interview with The Tide last weekend also said that the estate at Elekahia, is appropriately located with basic amenities such as potable water and power supply.
Inspite of these, she stated that houses are not as expensive as most people would think.
According to her, a three-bedroom bungalow costs between N600,000 – N700,000 while two-bedroom flat costs N500,000 depending on the landlord.
Okieto further said, the houses in Elekahia estate have been made more comfortable, by the provision of bathrooms and toilets in every room, unlike before when they had just one general toilet and bathroom for all occupants.
She said, most tenants feel houses in the estate are expensive because they compare it with other areas in Port Harcourt, areas like Rukpokwu and Abuloma where a three-bedroom flat costs N850,000 and N900,000.
Also she said, when one puts price on a house, a lot of factors are brought into consideration.
Some of these factors are location, population, social facilities.
She remarked that the estate is at a central location that is easily accessible.
Other factors she mentioned were electricity supply and water. She stated that landlords in the estate have made provision for water by providing boreholes in their respective compounds.
She however urged the landlord’s in the estate to be co-operative and form an Estate Management Association where common issues will be discussed.
Finally, she called on the State Housing Authority to do more in terms of supervision, explaining that there were many inappropriate structures in the estate, hence most people have converted their houses to business premises thereby reducing the structural beauty and uniformity of buildings in the estate.

Obusele Mirian