Dry construction will help reduce housing deficit —Developers
Real
estate developers are of the opinion that the dry construction method
of building will help reduce the housing deficit in the country.
According to the Managing Director, UACN
Property Development Company Limited, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, the built
environment is plagued by three fundamental issues of land titling,
funding and construction methodology.
“Most of us still construct in the
traditional way and it will be impossible to meet the housing gap if we
continue to build in the traditional way,” he said.
Ogunniran and others, who spoke at the
unveiling of Nigerite Limited’s Kalsi, a dry construction system, said
the building solution would help in the provision of affordable houses
in the country.
The
President, African Union of Architects, Mr. Tokunbo Omisore, said it
would help reduce poverty by providing solutions to housing problems.
The Managing Director, Nigerite Limited,
Mr. Frank LeBris, said that as a prominent and active player in the
built industry over the past five decades, the company owed the country a
duty to champion economic and technological innovations that it had
experienced in the developed world through the network of its parent
company, Etex.
He said, “We have carefully observed our
environment and come to the conclusion that we do not have to wait for
tomorrow to bring this avant-garde technology to Nigeria. Even though,
the introduction of this technology has caused us a lot of money in
terms of investment in new factory lines and equipment as well as
additional personnel, we believe that this is just one of the few things
we can do to contribute to the economic and technological upgrade of
Nigeria.
“Among other things, Kalsi dry
construction system is the future of building technology. Since we
cannot run away from tomorrow, why not bring tomorrow to today if we
have the means. The world over, dry construction is gaining the ground.”
LeBris stated that the system was developed to augment the efforts to cover up the housing deficit in the country.
“It is common knowledge that housing
deficit in Nigeria today is close to 20 million; this solution is being
introduced as one of the fastest means of bridging this gap since it
takes pretty few number of days to construct from start to finish. It
ensures cleaner environment at construction sites and thus points to our
avowed commitment to environment friendliness and it costs less in the
final analysis,” he said.
LeBris added that while the system was
not a replacement for the traditional method of brick and mortar, it was
cheaper and a quicker means of constructing a building.
According to the Marketing Manager,
Africa, Etex Group, Mr. Juan Lugo, the system is a response to the call
for energy efficiency in building construction as well as a fast growing
technology all over the world.
The Head, Dry Construction Business Unit, Nigerite, Mr. Adewale Ogungbe, said the system had high impact and fire resistant.
“Whatever an architect conceives in terms of design, Kalsi can achieve,” he said.
According to Ogungbe, Kalsi boards are
manufactured from cement, quartz, cellulose, natural calcium silicate
and water, and processed under high pressure and temperature for
durability and dimensional stability.
Credit: Punchng
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