Pricey choices in topnotch Asokoro Gardens
When leaving Abuja for Keffi, watch out— one kilometre away from the popular AYA junction, you will see the wonders of perfect town planning and rich architecture on your right. If you are romantic, I mean in love with nature, then you will appreciate the artistry of town planners. Available options Asokoro Gardens offers residential […]
When leaving Abuja for Keffi, watch out— one kilometre away from the popular AYA junction, you will see the wonders of perfect town planning and rich architecture on your right. If you are romantic, I mean in love with nature, then you will appreciate the artistry of town planners.
Available options
Asokoro Gardens offers residential solutions including: deluxe villa, standalone house, apartment, compound house and servants quarters. There is a police post and a club house.
With floor areas ranging from 179msq to 1,090msq, all houses are built with high-end materials and excellent finishing. Outdoor areas are designed with elegant soft and hard landscaping as well as exquisite pools with unique water features. Landscaping is fantastic.
The place is made up of 75 percent green spaces with serene and stimulating ambience. On purchase, the house owner is issued a 99-year certificate of occupancy by the Federal Capital Administration (FCTA).
Prices
Two-bedroom apartment with 194sqm built up area is N115 million; three-bedroom apartment of 222sqm is 125 million; compound house of with four bedrooms (332sqm) N50 million; four-bedroom pent house (732sqm), price not stated; four-compound house (464sqm) is N295 million; five-bedroom standalone with 502sqm built up area is N450 million; five-bedroom deluxe villa (built on 890sqm) is N750 million; and six-bedroom large deluxe villa on 1090sqm is N850 million.
Payment conditions are that a buyer pays 30 percent of the cost at the signing of sale offer/purchase and sale agreement. Then upon completion of super-structure concrete work, 20 percent payment is made.
On completion of tiling (block wall, plaster, rough electro-mechanical work), 20 percent payment is made. The forth payment of 20 percent is made upon finishing (ie tiling, painting, windows and doors, electro-mechanical equipment and fixtures). Then there is formal notice for property delivery when the remaining 10 percent is paid.
It was difficult getting management to talk. But a staff of SED who did not want to be named here said, “We build based on demand. You make commitment then we start work. Here, everything is centrally controlled – water, electricity, sewage, security. We’re selling lifestyle. What we sell is quality.”
According to him, SED Ltd made a commitment with FCTA to get its land. The company built the overhead bridge at Mogadishu Cantonment on Abuja-Keffi expressway and the Mogadishu Cantonment-Guzape road as part of the agreement, the staff said.
Do FCTA officials reap here?
Our reporter sought to find out whether the costs placed on these houses are driven by works the company did on the flyover around the military area and the Guzape road and whether top officials in FCTA (serving or retired) are having big stakes in the estate and are reaping bountifully from them. It was difficult getting correctly the kind of agreement that SED Ltd signed with government concerning this project.
The Coordinator of Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre (AIIC), Faruk Sani denied that Asokoro Gardens is part of the land swap programme introduced by FCT Minister Bala Mohammed.
AIIC promotes and facilitates private sector participation in public infrastructure as well as coordinate the implementation of the land swap programme under FCTA.
According to Sani, “FCTA does not have any pecuniary interest in the project -monetarily or in terms of percentage of land or number of houses there. According to him, the benefit is that the federal capital territory is being developed.
“The Sunrise Estate development is not part of the land swap programme and it was not done on the basis of the land swap initiative. Sunrise Estate development was conceived when the administration was looking for developers to give them hectares of land to develop houses so that the multitude of people coming into Abuja could be accommodated. It wasn’t mass housing in the strict sense of the word but you could say it’s a forerunner of the mass housing scheme,” the coordinator explained.
The Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Sule said the Director of Engineering Services, Adamu Alfa would give details. But the director told this reporter that the flyover was constructed by FCTA, not SED Ltd and government is still paying for the job. Over N1 billion is still being owed the contractor out of the over N5 billion cost of the project.
He declined giving details of government’s agreement with SED Ltd stressing that is it top management issue. He simply described it as a “site and services arrangement”. Alfa did not give what is government’s benefit in all this.
On the question of cost placed on the houses, he said that should not be an issue to anybody, adding that his office does not determine prices on property.
Asokoro Gardens is the first phase of the Sunrise Hills project said to have been conceived by Engr. Said Khalaf as a unique way of providing homes in strictly planned hilly area, wonderfully overlooking Abuja. It is a way of shoring up standards in home provision in Abuja. The ultimate goal is to guarantee quality living for families. It is strictly a residential estate. Streets are well paved and lit with exotic electrical installations. The project which is a 25-year plan started in 2004.
Sunrise Estate Development (SED) Ltd, a sister company of Setraco Nigeria Ltd is building the houses. It prides itself as trendsetter in the real estate sector. Khalaf who is chairman of SED Ltd is also co-founder of Setraco.
Management of the company is planning to build the biggest mall in Africa in the estate in the second phase.