NLNG engages Cosgrove to develop multi-billion naira Cooperative Estate

The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Cooperative Society has appointed Cosgrove Investment Limited as the sole developer of its proposed multi-billion naira estate. This came as the construction industry giant disclosed that it had completed a 1.5km access road linking its Maitama Estate to Kubwa Expressway in Abuja.
Chief Executive Officer, Cosgrove, Mr Umar Abdullahi, who confirmed the deal to our correspondent in Abuja said, “Yes, we would be building a multi-billion naira smart estate for the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas – Coop,” adding that the estate, which will be built in Abuja, will be fully automated and will feature latest innovations in technology typical of estates developed by Cosgrove.
On the access road constructed by his organisation, Abdullahi said Cosgrove constructed the road in exercise of its “firm commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility,” adding that apart from providing all requisite infrastructure within the estate, the organisation also embarked on provision of off-site infrastructure in order to add value to the community.
He said access roads are crucial to the development of commerce in human society, a factor, he said, inspired the construction of the road.
In a related development, the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Building, NIOB, Kenneth Nduka, has commended Cosgrove for going the extra mile, saying “developers who go the extra mile to develop access roads to estates have done well because it will add value to other houses in that area, not only their estates.”
He added that provision of access roads is actually supposed to be the responsibility of government. According to him, “Nigerians pay taxes, people living in homes also pay ground rent to government,” adding that government owes Nigerians the responsibility of providing infrastructure needed to drive the implementation of housing projects by estate developers and private home builders.
The NIOB president called on government to restore the Site and Services Scheme which involved the mapping-out of estates while roads and utilities are channeled to the road
to make it functional. He said: “Because the Scheme makes the road functional, developers could easily access their estates,” adding that if restored, it would help to plan the environment in such a way that projected services requirement could be identified and provided for.”
While saying that the Scheme makes it easy for developers to access their estates while adding great value to landed properties in the location, he explained that if the
Scheme is not restored, there would be random approach to services delivery which is not in the best
of interest of development control.
Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners who is CEO, Development Planning and Management Consultants, DPMC, Tpl Onibokun Abimbola agreed that provision of offsite infrastructure by Cosgrove is a commendable
effort that will add great value to the worth of housing in the vicinity. He encouraged industrialists across sectors of the Nigerian economy to take a clue from
Dangote
Cement and Cosgrove Investments, who are able to execute beneficial projects to communities that host their establishments, saying that it also adds value to the products of their organisations, cement and homes respectively.
Onibokun, who is a Fellow of the NITP said: “Cosgrove and Dangote share similar ideology in terms of provision of road infrastructure that link their establishments to the society in exercise of
Corporate Social Responsibility,” stating that Dangote has almost finished constructing the
road linking Obajana Cement Factory to the developed outlets of
the area.