Lagos Denies Plan to Abandon Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Scheme

Lagos Denies Plan to Abandon Ilubirin   Foreshore Housing Scheme

Segun James

The Lagos State Government has indicated that work is presently ongoing at the construction site of Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Scheme while also expressing an eagerness to complete the first phase of the scheme within the next 24 months.

The Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai dismissed the report at a meeting with First Investment Property Company (FIDC) at the weekend, saying Ilubirin Foreshore housing Scheme would not be abandoned.

At the meeting, the commissioner noted that Ilubirin Scheme “has not been set aside. We are working on the scheme. We have a solid plan to deliver the first phase of the scheme not later than the third quarter of 2021.”

Akinderu-Fatai explained that as part of the commitment “to ensure that more Lagos residents become homeowners, the state government is determined to complete the first phase of the on-going Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Estate project in Lagos Island Local Government Area.”

He revealed that the project, which is a public-private collaboration endeavour, would be reviewed in its entirety to actualise the vision of an upscale and captivating residential, commercial and leisure environment befitting of its strategic location along the lagoon.

Akinderu-Fatai disclosed that the plan of the present administration to create liveable cities and regenerate existing ones will be fully incorporated in the review process so as to inject new life into the neighbouring communities.

However, according to him, the process of re-examination will be accelerated because the need to close the housing deficit gap is quite urgent.

Akinderu-Fatai said the present administration “is committed to completing all abandoned housing estates in the state in accordance with global specifications. We are here to set new bars in housing development. We intend to do that through setting good examples with our own estates.

“We are determined to complete the Ilubirin Foreshore Housing Scheme and other ongoing housing projects so as to make more Lagos residents homeowners irrespective of their ethnicity or political dispensation.”

At the meeting, Mr. Wale Bamgbelu of First Investment Property Company (FIDC) said the master plan for the scheme “is based on a world class housing estate scheme anchored on the Live Work and Play pattern having not only residential facilities but also other facilities of global standard including cinema halls and shopping arcades.”

Ilubirin Estate is a public foreshore housing project initiated in 2014 and constructed on reclaimed land in Ikoyi Island, Lagos at the base of the Third Mainland Bridge, facing the Lagos Lagoon waterfront on Lagos Island.

In mitigating the housing deficit in the state, it was poised to deliver 472 of two, three bedroom blocks of flat, terraces and penthouses in a mixed used hub, which will create a ‘live, work, play’ environment with commercial units and recreational facilities.

The scheme started in 2014 under the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), the administration of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode reviewed it.

Initially designed to have 1254 units, Ambode’s administration redesigned as a live work play environment to accommodate tourists’ attractions, shopping arcades and cinema halls. The housing delivery for the first phase is targeted at 472 units, of 2and 3 bedroom including terraces.

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