By ESv Sarah Bako
It’s evidence-based that property developers have made life easier for residents by setting up estates, building houses, and selling them to interested buyers, either by outright or instalmental payment. In each state in Nigeria currently there are estates
While this is a commendable development on the part of estate developers, there is also the challenge of the developers providing promised infrastructures, usually agreed upon before the houses are sold
Infrastructures such as roads, electricity, drainage system, and water are critical components of residential estates. They make estates comfortable enough for residents
It has become a habit for developers to prioritise the construction and sale of housing units to maximise immediate profit while the essential part of the “master plan” such as infrastructural development is grossly neglected, leaving it in the hands of the frustrated residents to pursue
These unresolved issues create significant financial,social, and legal strains on home buyers.
By convention, infrastructure ought to be the first and major thing that should be provided in a planned estate even before the commencement of buildings. Lack of proper infrastructure-base in an estate brings about environmental degradation and inaccessibility especially during rainy seasons.
Besides, poor drainage systems leads to heavy flooding and environmental hazards.
Many estates springing up in Abuja lack central water supply, which forces residents to rely on expensive private alternatives like digging boreholes in all the nooks and crannies of the estate. There is also a lack of electricity connections, inadequate provision of transformers to supply adequate light.
There have been reports of lots of security breaches or break-in due to lack of boundary walls and security posts.Amenities such as recreational facilities, shopping malls, school and health centers are hardly provided in some of these estates
As a result, the residents end up incurring additional expenses for non-existent of these infrastructures, social amenities and services . The residents are forced to resort to self-help to live comfortably
Furthermore, any estate that has pitiable infrastructure-base is bond to lose value. This is exactly what is happening to estates without adequate infrastructure as they experience stagnant or declining rental and resale values after spending so much to buy the houses.
Moreover, improper infrastructure-base causes rapid decay of existing structures, which again brings about loss of property
value.
The appalling reality is that most property developers have the habit of diverting funds meant for infrastructural development to start new projects elsewhere which impacts adversely on the estate and its residents
Another snag on estate development is the failure of developers to put into consideration the time factor in completing the project. Delayed project development is usually affected by change in prices which strains the project budget resulting in poor execution of the master plan
Put differently, the challenge of high cost of building materials, high interest rates, and poor financing leads to stalling construction.
It is important to understand that failure to provide basic amenities and infrastructures after building houses constitutes a breach of professional ethics and legal obligation. The residents are left in a turmoil to either sort themselves out or resort to legal option
Therefore, strict regulations should be put in place to contain the identified malpractices. Consequently, there should be proper developer registration so that the developers can be held responsible and accountable over evident lapses
