NIESV To Undertake Housing Study In Rivers

The Rivers State Chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, says it has concluded plans to undertake a housing study that would make available, data of residents for planning and development.
 Newly elected Chairman of the chapter, Hamilton Odom revealed this in a media parley, weekend.
 He stated that  the study, which would  commence before the end of 2020 would span a period of  six months.
Odom noted that prior to this time, there were no basic information on data regarding the number and type of households in the state, which explained would come in handy in planning and emergencies.
 According to him: “There was no basic information on data to assist government in the distribution of palliative, because if we know that on Olu-Obasanjo Road, there are 50 houses, you can tell the number of households we have on  Olu-Obasanjo Road. The study would tell you that you have 10 blocks of flats and each block has four flats. Assuming they are all blocks of four flats, you know you have forty households from the 10 blocks of flats. It would tell you how many dethatched houses you have, it will tell you how many semi-dethatched houses you have and so on. So you can actually estimate the number of households you have on each street which would be very useful in times of emergency, not just for planning, but also in times of emergency.”
 The NIESVs chairman expressed optimism that the study would be of immense  assistance to the National Population Commission when completed.
 He observed that the study was important, especially now, given the extent of urban drift. 
 He said: “Port Harcourt is expanding on all frontiers every day. Those of us who were born here, we knew that before now Port Harcourt did not exceed the Rainbow Town and perhaps somewhere around Mile 4/Mile 5 down to Rumuokoro, those were the outer fringes of Port Harcourt, but you can see now that with urbanisation and rapid growth in the city, you can see Port Harcourt has stretched up to Iguruwta, Choba down to Akpajo even heading towards Eleme, and to parts of Okrika from the Old Port Harcourt Township.”

By: Tonye Nria-Dappa