Housing Deficit: Stakeholders Harp On Modern Building Techniques

Stakeholders in the housing sub-sector said that except  modern building techniques are adopted, the Federal Government’s efforts at bridging the housing gap of  over 17 million, would not be fruitful.
The stakeholders who made this assertion in a media parley, said the conventional way of constructing houses by Nigerians through the use of bricks and morter was too slow to produce the required 700,000 housing units per annum to bridge the gap, hence, the need for alternative methods through modern techniques.
They pointed out that the current annual 100,000 housing units being constructed by the government and real estate developers was too low, given the requirement of 700,000 units per annum.
According to one of the stakeholders, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Afriland Properties, Mrs Uzo Oshoqwe, stakeholders should adopt innovative techniques for mass housing production at affordable rates.
Oshoqwe canvassed alternative building materials, such as traditional techniques like clay brick and periwinkle shells, adding that the prefabrication method had also proved to entrance housing production and reduce cost, explaining that the use of precast construction in a reusable mode is cost efficient and fast.
Also speaking, former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Lagos State, Mr Toyin Ayinde noted that the need for innovation was more pronounced now more than ever, saying that the nation needs to improve on its construction method, materials and speed.
Describing the traditional construction method as too slow, he said it still predominates the sector as wet construction, saying, “we are familiar with the number of days needed to expect a suspended concrete slab to cure, stressing that many structures have failed in a bid to cut down time, trying to truncate the length of time of waiting just to find a way of speeding up the process.