Anambra State government has marked two of its housing estates for demolition.
The managing director/chief executive officer of the state housing development corporation, ASHDC, Mr Chike Anyaonu stated this during an interaction with members of the Correspondents Chapel of the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, yesterday.
He stated that the two affected estates were the Iyiagu Housing Estate and Real Estate.
The corporation boss explained that the plan to demolish the housing estates was in line with the deliberate policy of the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo to ensure optimal utilisation of all the government’s estate.
He said the current building structures in the two estates are bungalows, but, that the government wants to replace them with high-rise buildings.
Anyaonu disclosed that he inherited a total of 22 housing estates owned by the state government on assumption of office about two years ago, but, that only three of them were functional.
He said most of the housing estates were being used to scam intending subscribers by both the staff members of the corporation and contractors appointed by the government to develop the estates.
Anyaonu said that when he visited Rockland Estate he discovered to his disappointment that the contractor appointed by the corporation to provide infrastructural facilities, including water-boreholes, electricity, roads failed to provide them.
He said he discovered that it was the respective allottees that provided some of those facilities by themselves.
He said that when he approached the allottees to pay the necessary levies to the government such as ground rent, they refused saying that the government has not met its own obligations to them in the estate.
He, however, stated that since his assumption of office he had purged staff members of the corporation of indulgences in sharp dealings with prospective subscribers for the government housing estates.
Mr Anyaonu who listed Ngozika Housing Estate 1 and 2, as well as Udoka Housing Estate as the only functional state government housing estates, however, disclosed that he had seen assumption of office compelled contractors in some of the housing estates, including Nkwelle Ezunaka to commence providing the necessary infrastructures they were appointed to put in place in the estates.
