‘We’re wasting land in Abuja’
Your estate has a strange kind of name. What does it mean?Shungrila is coined out of Chinese…has to do with haven of peace, something akin to Eden. You know, in the bible when you describe the Garden of Eden…it’s the Chinese description of the Garden of Eden. That’s where we got the name Shungrila. That […]
Your estate has a strange kind of name. What does it mean?
Shungrila is coined out of Chinese…has to do with haven of peace, something akin to Eden. You know, in the bible when you describe the Garden of Eden…it’s the Chinese description of the Garden of Eden. That’s where we got the name Shungrila.
That backs up our philosophy of estate development where we want our customers to have peace in the environment they live. You see our logo, what you see there is City of Peace.
We target mainly middle to low income sections of society. A lot of Nigerians have suffered in terms of housing. Government has been doing its best but its best hasn’t been enough. Many people, in their lifetime, what they’re actually looking for is a decent roof over their head. That’s what Shungrila has come to provide.
We’ve been doing this for the past 10 years and the longer we’re in it, the better we become. Through natural business evolution, we’ve been able to understand what our people really need. People need homes but the limiting factor is affordability. This time, not only affordability, but the convenience and possibility.
We looked at the soul of our people and said, if we can give them real value-value not only in the quality of buildings we provide but value in terms of how they acquire these buildings-the convenience we provide to them to have roof over their head-that forms the main philosophy of Shungrila Estate.
What’s the process of acquiring your product?
All you need to do is to indicate interest. We’re constructing about 580 housing units. We’ve done the first phase-140 units. We’re in the second phase of 200 units of three-bedroom flats. We’re doing flats in order to accommodate as many people as possible. We use the best architects give serene environment where everything is not concrete and water. We have the serenity plans-gardens and all that make a habitat interesting for human beings to sit and think well. The environment you live affects your personality.
If you need our product, contact us. You buy a form from us. Our form costs just N10,000. With that we’re able to capture your bio-data. You then start your monthly contribution.
Why monthly?
We chose the option of monthly because we discovered that our people-just as you earn income to plan your finances-you know the saying that people and money don’t stay together-if you’re with money so do many needs. Before long, those needs overwhelm you. So we brought the idea that as you take your salary on a monthly basis, you’re there and then, knowing that you need a roof over your head, you quickly charge your system right away for the housing.
Considering the pay an average Abuja worker takes-N50,000 to N100,000, what percentage of that salary should go to this system you’re running?
We did a survey. We went into the open market to ask people what exactly they want. The most convenient way they can take in order to meet up their needs. Most of them said one of their major problems is housing and they wouldn’t mind to pay anything that’s reasonable that they can afford. It may be more than their take-home, their monthly pay. But you know a lot of people have some other things they do aside their salaries.
The discipline they can put there…it’s a family affair-your wife’s income and all that-because it’s the major part of their needs. They can give something reasonable every month toward owning their own home.
There’s affordability range. We’ve served the very low income [earners] when we did one-bedroom and two-bedroom. What is remaining for us now is the three-bedroom which targets the middle income [earners]. Our calculation is that the person will pay N325,000 a month. We did the analysis and saw that a lot of bankers, civil servants…I mentioned middle class-it’s not a social housing scheme. Social housing is purely for government for people earning in that range of N50,000.
Also, we did it that way in order not to allow it to become a barracks. We want people that have some level of income, some level of enlightenment so that…you know enlightenment and wealth go hand in hand. People can have good neighbourhood. If you serve this kind of thing to a very low class, you have a barracks arrangement. That’s why we upped the ante a bit for the middle class so that when you come there, it will be serene and enjoyable for all.
We ask for N335,000 per month. Reason, the federal government and the ministry of finance launched National Mortgage Refinance Company not long ago. We then tallied with the government, the maximum selling price it will allow is N20 million. Before now, we were selling for N25 million. We decided to realign with government’s approved marks. So our two-bedroom goes for N15 million and the down payment the federal government approved for somebody to pay depends on the price. If it’s above N15 million, it’s 30 percent down payment. If it’s under N10 million, it’s 20 percent down payment.
What do you do to an up taker who for any reason stops payment?
If he’s a worker that lost his job…many people when they lose their jobs, they get emoluments. That’s why we pegged it as low as N6 million, that is 30 percent. You need to struggle to own a home. He can use the emolument to make up the N6 million. He’s a house owner. That house is an insurance.
But it’s left for him to actually back out of the programme. We return the money. If he had contributed N2 million or N3 million, he can no longer continue and he wants to back out, we return the money.
Do you think the design of houses in Abuja is really what the people need? We’re building more of duplexes. Gwarinpa which was designed to accommodate a large number of our people are duplexes. Many houses there have been bought and left empty.
We took our time to talk with the people to really know what they want. That’s why we target the middle and low income [earners]. That’s why we’re not building duplexes. We’ve blocks of flats. We’re also not building bungalows which is the trend everywhere. This is waste of land. Land is a limited resource in this town and a lot of developers are in this game of wasting land.
Take for example, a 10-hectar land-10-hectar land can give you a maximum of 120 bungalows. One hundred and twenty, the land is finished! But with proper use of land, you can generate 580 units on 10 hectares-well planned, well laid out.
Just like these countries with land problem-China, Israel etc. We’re going multi floors, quality construction, well designed. If you go in, you feel as if you’re in a hotel room with your family. Your neighbour is your security. You don’t live alone where you need Alsatian dogs and all that.
And we provide after-sales-service, that’s facility management 24/7. There are central areas: children play ground, school, supermarket, recreational area in the same estate. That’s the concept we developed. That way, we can serve many more people from the same land area.
Former minister of FCT [Umar] Modibbo, when he was going round to see how developers were carrying on, he came to my estate. When developers were doing this bungalow craze, wasting land, the man came and saw that I was doing multi-floor construction. On the strength of that, he gave me another allocation-I’m the one doing exactly what is wanted in Abuja master plan in terms of mass housing.
We also go a long way to follow this master plan because land use in Abuja-some areas are for high density development, some medium, some low. Most of these developers, in the craze for doing bungalow will build low density like bungalows in a high density land. By the time they go to process the certificate of occupancy, they start having problems because they’re not building according to the master plan-bungalow in high density areas. Because the public doesn’t know, they sell these and offload those problems to the population.