Katsina State Govt. earmarks N5bn for affordable housing

The Katsina State Government, has earmarked N5 billion for the construction of affordable housing units for residents of the state.

The General Manager, Katsina State Housing Authority, Mr Aliyu Rabiu-Kurfi, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Katsina.

Rabiu-Kurfi expalined that N2.5 billion, would be utilised by the government to construct 100 housing units in the state capital.

He said that the other part might be spent on fencing and site clearance of another land to be procured in Abuja, adding that a final decision had not been reached on that.

“A decision is not yet reached, the government might clear the land, put in place all required infrastructure and make provision for individuals to come and build their own houses, both private individuals and developers.

“So, our governor has good plan for housing sector in the state, beginning from this year.

“The governor has already designed a policy tagged ‘Katsina State Housing Policy, 2024’, to serve as foundation and cornerstone for all programmes in the sector,” he said.

He general manager also revealed that the successive state governments had so far constructed 1,848 housing units since the creation of the state in 1987 to date.

“The state has always been blessed with governors who have been patriotic in establishing housing estates.

”These housing estates have been established in Batagarawa, Kofar Marusa, Ahmadu Coomassie, Goruba, all in Katsina district.

”Some were also built in Dutsin-ma, Kankia, Daura, Mani, Funtua and Malumfashi, Barhim, Sarki Abdulrahman, Fatima Shema, Ahmadu Bello Sardauna, Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina, and one in Abuja,” he said.

Rabiu-Kurfi disclosed that while some of the houses were allocated to civil servants, others were allocated to private individuals.

He however said that those allocated houses still had about N2 billion yet to be paid to the state government.