Green Buildings, Next Phase Of Real Estate Development– Kumar

The Head Business Development, PPC Limited, Anand Kumar, speaks to Mrs Josephine Ogundeji, a journalist

on how green buildings drive demand for eco-friendly environment and other issues affecting real estate.

According to the gathered results, it is shown that residential and commercial buildings account for almost 40 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions. What are the implications of this?

Yes, there are two ways you can look at it; there is a huge migration of people moving from one place to another, migrating from one city to another. So, obviously, there is a huge demand. Development is happening all around, and the first impact happens in the big cities so obviously everybody gets attracted to it. This trend is not for one particular city or geographical area; it is common all over the world. If you look at it from an overall perspective, more than 50 per cent of the world’s population will be leaving, having a serious impact in terms of housing and things like this have had a direct impact on the number of residential buildings or commercial buildings which have matched the requirement.

How will you describe the capacity of the real estate industry to underwrite major risks?

It is the role of both the federal and state governments to step in and help the industry to grow, particularly in the mass housing scheme, scaling it to a larger scale. The government can take care of some of the funding requirements of these projects and work hand in hand with stakeholders in the real estate industry because when there is a financial closure, the risk can be a bit minimal. Also, the cost of building projects should be more realistic. Going forward, the government needs to give room for investment, which should be aimed at manufacturing building materials locally, rather than importing. Most importantly, the government needs to support the industry with adequate funding so that the industry can thrive.

How is the current forex scarcity in the economy affecting the real estate business?

It is a major reason for the slowness of real estate development; we import over 80 per cent of the service requirement today. Obviously, they get impacted by the fluctuation of currency. Hence, all building materials are being imported, and directly, they get affected by currency fluctuations.

It is argued that the next phase in designing is green buildings. How can it solve the 28 million housing deficit in Nigeria?

Green buildings play a role in the advanced world which is making sure the buildings are approved and constructed to green building standards. Green building standards are basically the minimal usage of electricity, water, and all those services that entail billing. Hence, you are reducing the impact of what is going to happen to the environment. For example, if you want to reduce a lot of electricity use, which means your lighting, should come down drastically. The building has to be designed in such a way that it has to use a lot of natural lighting so that it saves a lot of power. For example, even if you need to power those buildings, you can use what is called solar energy which may be on the roof or on the side of the building depending on the space availability so these will compound safe energy use. Solar energy is green energy; it comes directly from the sun and can be converted to light. So, you can compensate and maybe use a 30-40 per cent requirement.

How can Nigeria have affordable houses for low income earners?

Also, housing being the biggest deficiency for Nigeria today needs to improve as the majority of the population is not in good condition, and the reason is that there are very few accommodations available for people to live in at an affordable price. The more unaffordable it is, the more difficult for people. Importantly, the cost of buildings has to come down, and in respect of green buildings, you’re not spending too much on the building because you are trying as much as possible trying to use natural lighting. This also will enable people to buy and lease into that kind of advanced building standards, hence it is a win-win situation.