Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has laid the foundation stone of a new housing estate for civil servants in the state.

The 400 units housing estate will occupy a 28-hectare land at Amauba Avodim Ubakala in Umuahia South Local Government Area. It will be built by an Abuja-based property Developer, Aso Investment Development Company (AIDC), and is christened Ochendo Liberation Housing Estate.

The estate will comprise 300 three-bedroom and 100 two-bedroom detached bungalows to be sold at N5 million and N4.5 million respectively on completion. Interested buyers must have identified with the National Housing Fund and would pay by installment.

It is expected to boast amenities such as asphalted roads, parking lot, potable water, security post, neighbourhood shopping malls, schools, clinics, fire service and recreational centres, among others.

The estate will be completed in seven phases with the first phase containing 50 houses expected to be completed within the next 12 months.

Managing Director of AIDC, Isoken Omo, and Chairman of Aso Savings and Loans PLC, Mr. Collins Chikeluba, were in Umuahia, Abia State capital, in company of former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and foundation stone laying ceremony of the project.

Omo and Chikeluba assured that the project would be delivered and requested the government to provide the enabling environment for them to deliver.

Orji who laid the foundation described the estate as part of his administration’s “bold and pragmatic housing programme to provide affordable houses for the citizens in line with the Millennium Development Goals.”

*Photo shows Gov. Orji flanked on the left by Chief Okezie Orji, Commissioner for Housing, and on the right by Mr. Collins Chikereuba, Chairman ASO Investment Development Company, and Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, former External Affairs Minister, during the foundation laying ceremony of the estate.

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